Lon Monk, former top Blagojevich aide, pleads guilty
PAL PLEADS GUILTY | Top aide says ex-gov schemed for kickbacks
He was a groomsman in Rod Blagojevich's wedding and the ex-governor's first chief of staff.
But, on Tuesday, Alonzo "Lon" Monk said he was something else: an eyewitness to a litany of corruption under Blagojevich, including a scheme by the former governor and his top advisers to profit off state government deals.
(Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)
Monk's willingness to testify against his onetime law-school roommate sparked a 30-page guilty plea in which he revealed that, even before Blagojevich's first term as governor, Blagojevich sat in on meetings where he and his top associates discussed "using their control over the State of Illinois government" to line their own pockets.
How much was at stake?
"Hundreds of thousands of dollars per deal," with the profits to be "split evenly" between Blagojevich, Monk, the now-deceased Christopher Kelly and convicted businessman Tony Rezko, according to Monk's plea.
Monk 51, of Decatur, said the discussions were led by Rezko and continued during Blagojevich's first term. Blagojevich and Monk -- Blagojevich's chief of staff through the end of 2005 -- were to get their share after they were out of government, according to the plea.
Blagojevich has repeatedly sought to distance himself from Rezko, essentially claiming that Rezko duped him. Monk's plea not only puts the two in the same room, but it also alleges that Blagojevich gave both Rezko and Kelly free rein over his administration.
Monk "understood that Blagojevich and [Monk] would use their power and authority in state government as needed to assist whatever plans Rezko and Kelly put in place to make money," the plea states.
Monk's testimony could bolster that of Rezko, who has been cooperating with the government since his conviction last year but has yet to be sentenced.
A Blagojevich lawyer blasted Monk's assertions.
"That is completely false. One-thousand percent false," Sheldon Sorosky said. "Blagojevich never participated in any deal or conference where he'd receive a kickback from any investments or any money that Rezko and Kelly made -- from the state or otherwise."
Monk's plea is part of a deal for a two-year sentence. Without it, he would face nearly four years in prison.
In it, he admits that he schemed with Blagojevich to shake down a racetrack businessman for a $100,000 campaign contribution in exchange for the governor's signature on a pending piece of legislation.
Rezko, he said, delivered $10,000 in cash payments to him seven to nine times. Monk "understood that the money that Rezko provided was a gift, not a loan," the plea states.
Monk also claims that Blagojevich, Rezko and Kelly met about making money off of a 62-acre parcel at Roosevelt and Clark that Rezko owned.
"Rezko talked about different ways that [Monk], Blagojevich, and Kelly could benefit from the Roosevelt and Clark Project, such as by having Blagojevich's wife work on marketing the project or by allowing [Monk] to work on the project after [Monk] left state government," the plea states.
Another state deal that Monk said the four discussed involved $10 billion in pension obligation bonds issued by the state in 2003. Rezko and Kelly picked the underwriter that Blagojevich subsequently chose to take the lead role on the bond sale, Monk said. Monk also said he learned the four would split a $500,000 kickback from a consultant.
The plea agreement doesn't give further details. But testimony at Rezko's trial identified the underwriter as Bear Stearns, and court documents indicated that $809,000 was paid by Bear Stearns to Springfield lobbyist Robert Kjellander, who consulted for Bear Stearns on the deal.
Kjellander, in turn, transferred $600,000 of the funds to a Rezko associate, Joseph Aramanda, court records show. Kjellander, however, has maintained he simply was loaning Aramanda the money and did nothing wrong, according to the records.