Star witness draws Blagojevich into Rezko case
They were on a flight home from a political fund-raising swing to New York in October 2003, businessman Stuart Levine testified today, when he thanked Gov. Blagojevich for reappointing him to a state board.
Levine told jurors this morning at the corruption trial of indicted Blagojevich fund-raiser Tony Rezko that Blagojevich responded: “Never discuss any state board with me. You discuss them with Tony Rezko or Chris Kelly, but you stick with us, and you’ll do very well for yourself.”
(AP/Sun-Times)
Levine told the jury how he interpreted that statement: “I took it to mean I would have an opportunity to make a lot of money.”
The conversation with Blagojevich was part of another round of bombshells Levine dropped on his second day of testimony against Rezko. Levine, 62, of Highland Park, has pleaded guilty to corruption schemes involving Rezko and is the star prosecution witness against him.
Blagojevich is not accused of any wrongdoing and has denied ever telling Levine he could profit from his administration.
Besides talking about the conversation with the governor, Levine also said he and Rezko discussed the prospect of collaborating on illegal deals involving Blagojevich’s administration during meetings at Rezko’s offices in 2003. He said Rezko told him he “spoke very often and, in fact, went over decisions that Lon Monk” — then the governor’s chief of staff — “would put into place.”
According to Levine, “Mr. Rezko told me that all major decisions that were made in the governor’s office were cleared by Mr. Monk through Mr. Rezko.”
Levine told jurors he chartered a private plane so he could travel with Rezko, Springfield power broker William Cellini and their wives to attend a Dec. 3, 2003, Christmas reception at the White House hosted by President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. Also attending that reception was Republican Party heavyweight Robert Kjellander, whom Levine said got him his invitation.
Levine also said he met up with Rezko’s family on a 2004 Puerto Vallarta spring-break trip. He said Rezko told him he had to leave Mexico early to return to Chicago to organize a reception for an Iraqi-born billionaire, whom Rezko was soliciting to invest in a major development he hoped to build in the South Loop. Levine flew Rezko’s wife and three children back to Chicago with him and his family on a chartered jet.
Rezko has ties with Nadhmi Auchi. Rezko later persuaded Auchi to join that venture, which involved 62 acres at Roosevelt and Clark in the South Loop.
Levine said the discussions he had with Rezko about their relationship included Levine’s roles on two state boards on which he sat: the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and the state Teachers’ Retirement System board.
At one of their first meetings, in 2003, “I told Mr. Rezko up until this time I had not benefited personally, financially from being a trustee of” TRS, Levine said. “As I finished — at that point in the conversation — Mr. Rezko said to me, ‘Stuart, anything that I decide to do at TRS, you will be a partner in.’
“I understood Mr. Rezko to mean if there are things he would like done, and that my assistance was required, that any monies that would be earned from doing that, he would share with me.”
Levine also said he understood “the nature of that conversation transcended the relationship with the Teachers’ Retirement System” and included Levine’s role as a health planning board member.
“I told Mr. Rezko that I was extraordinarily pleased to know him . . . and I thought we could do a lot of business together,” Levine said.
By that, Levine testified, “I meant that there were deals, illegal deals, that I could potentially bring to the Teachers’ Retirement System, and perhaps to the Illinois Health Facilities Plan Board, and would like to go forward.”
After that, Levine said he and Rezko started to meet more frequently. Eventually, another top Blagojevich fund-raiser, Christopher G. Kelly, began attending those meetings, too, Levine said. He said Kelly was on the flight with him and the governor returning from New York.
When Levine and Rezko talked about the governor, Levine said, Rezko told him he had high aspirations for Blagojevich.
“He had raised a great deal of money for Gov. Blagojevich,” Levine said. “He had great hopes and expectations that Gov. Blagojevich would run for president, and, although he knew it was longshot, he was working toward that end.”