Bag of cash to save gov's house?
REZKO TRIAL | Ex-aide tells prosecutors he gave Rezko $25K to pay contractors
A former aide to Gov. Blagojevich has told prosecutors that, in 2003, he delivered a black plastic bag filled with $25,000 in cash to Tony Rezko to pay contractors and keep them from placing a lien on the governor's Ravenswood Manor home.
"Mr. Rezko says to him: 'They're threatening to put a lien on the governor's house. This is going to be embarrassing to [Blagojevich],' " Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton told U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve Tuesday.
(Rich Hein, Al Podgorski/Sun-Times/AP)
Ali Ata told prosecutors the money was part of $125,000 in cash he gave Rezko, then a top Blagojevich adviser, to keep him happy so he could keep his $127,000-a-year job as Illinois Finance Authority executive director.
Rezko lawyer Joseph Duffy dismissed the allegation as having "nothing to support it."
Rezko is accused of manipulating votes on state boards to enrich himself, associates and the governor's campaign fund. Ata pleaded guilty last week in a Rezko-related case and is set to testify against him Thursday.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported in 2007 that Blagojevich and his wife, Patti, hired a Rezko company, Chicago Construction Services, to oversee a renovation of their Northwest Side bungalow, paying the company $17,768 and paying $79,922 to contractors for work that included a new deck and family-room renovations.
Chicago Construction Services began overseeing the Blagojevich work in July 2003 -- six months after Rezko began pushing the governor to place friends and associates in key state posts.
No lien was ever placed on the Blagojevich home.
Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff denied any impropriety, saying, "The Blagojeviches personally paid for the work to renovate their 14-by-20 family room, out of their checking account."
Hamilton also said Ata gave $50,000 to Rezko that he passed on to Blagojevich fund-raiser Chris Kelly. Rezko and Ata drove to Kelly's house with the cash in the car, Hamilton said. A source said the cash went toward Kelly's gambling debts. According to the prosecutor, Ata didn't see the cash change hands.
"If Mr. Ata is saying that he is giving a large amount of cash to Mr. Kelly for political purposes or to get some state job, that is not true," Kelly lawyer Michael Monico said.