Rezko's Wilmette mansion going on the auction block
Once the site of fund-raisers for politicians including soon-to-be president Barack Obama and then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Wilmette mansion of convicted businessman Tony Rezko is on the auction block.
Bank of America, the mortgage holder that won a foreclosure judgment on Rezko's defaulted $5.9 million note in May, will auction the opulent, two-story, 8,400-square-foot home next month.
(Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)
The home will go on the block Aug. 10 at Intercounty Judicial Sales in the Loop. A minimum sale price has not been set.
"We won't know what the opening bid is going to be until a day or two before," said Scott Jensen, an attorney with the Loop law firm of Murray Jensen & Wilson Ltd., which is representing the bank.
Rezko, a real estate developer and fast-food magnate, took out the loan for the home at 1250 Chestnut in Wilmette in September 2003.
In September 2006, the former Blagojevich adviser stopped paying the mortgage, Bank of America said.
Rezko was indicted on wide-ranging charges of public corruption involving state deals in October 2006 and was convicted in June 2008.
Rezko, who remains in federal custody awaiting sentencing, has told the federal court he's broke.
Legal expenses and other costs reportedly have exhausted the millions of dollars he made in real estate and investments, including Papa John's and Panda Express restaurant franchises.