Feds seek to freeze Blago campaign fund, sources say
Federal authorities plan to freeze Gov. Blagojevich’s campaign fund, crippling the governor’s ability to use the money for his legal bills.
In a letter this week, they put the Blagojevich camp on notice they intend to freeze the money, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.
(AP)
That disclosure comes a week after the governor was hit with federal charges including scheming to sell the U.S. Senate seat given up by President-elect Barack Obama.
Today in Springfield, the governor’s lawyer, Ed Genson, appeared before a House panel investigating whether to impeach Blagojevich. Genson asked to be appointed a special attorney general to represent the governor in the impeachment process.
The “Friends of Blagojevich” fund hasn’t been frozen yet, but sources said the letter alone will have a crippling effect on the governor’s ability to move money out of the fund because of the possibility that prosecutors would later seize the money.
As of June 30, the date of his latest campaign-finance report, Blagojevich had about $3.6 million in his campaign war chest. He’s been on a major fund-raising swing since then, though any money he’s raised might already have been spent on legal fees or other expenses.
There’s precedent for freezing Blagojevich’s fund. In 2002, prosecutors got a judge to freeze $1 million in then-Gov. George Ryan’s campaign fund before Ryan was indicted. They charged that the Ryan fund was a criminal enterprise and said they wanted to make sure it had money available to pay possible restitution costs. Ryan was convicted of corruption charges and is serving six and a half years in prison.
Contributing: Chris Fusco, Dave McKinney