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Obama-Barack (1744) Corruption (1674) Barack Obama (950) Chicago (287) Party Politics Democratic (264) Party Machine Democratic (163) Party Platforms DNC (121) Obama Hillary New Hampshire (107) Rezko (31) Blagojevich (13) Washington (9)
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During the Rezko trial, Ata testified that in February 2004, he told Rezko that IFA board members were worried over the approval of financing for the Papa John’s deal because there could be negative publicity due to Rezko’s association with the pizza businesses But Ata said Rezko scoffed at the concerns. "He said as far as the publicity, he will get the governor's office to approve the transaction, and as far as the board,” Ata told the jury, Rezko said, “We put them there.” Papa John's searches for Rezko assets Rezko's firms had started falling behind on payments to Papa John's in 2001, and Papa John's finally cancelled its franchise agreement with Rezko in the spring of 2004. Rezko then transferred the pizza chains to companies owned by “personal friend(s) and long-time business associate(s)," to operate under trade names such as “Papa Tony’s" and “Pizzeria Zia,” according to a lawsuit filed in 2005 by Papa John's. Papa John's alleges Rezko still controlled the pizza chains and the associates were merely running "front" companies under different names. The companies named in the lawsuit include AR Pizza, Chaib Investments, Newco Pizza and LayaZia. AR Pizza, Newco Pizza and LayaZia have their principal places of business at the same location as Rezko Enterprises, according to the lawsuit. Nadhmi Auchi firm, General Mediterranean Holding, owns 50% of AR Pizza and Rezko owns 50%. Reporters, Mike McIntire and Christopher Drew, tracked Rezko’s “financial maneuverings” during the year that Rezko and Obama were entering into the real estate deal through an examination of lawsuits in state and federal courts, documents in the Board Games cases, and land records, for a report in the March 8, 2008 New York Times. They discovered that Rezko was fighting off lenders and investors trying to collect on defaulted loans and failed business ventures the whole time. “But he side-stepped that financial dragnet by arranging for the land to be bought in his wife’s name, making it the only property she owned by herself,” they report. As a result, when the Obamas bought part of the lot in January 2006, “the money they paid was beyond the reach of Mr. Rezko’s creditors, including one conducting a court-ordered hunt for his assets to recover a $3.5 million debt,” the Times notes. When buying the mansion, Obama said the lot next door had to be sold separately because, “It was already a stretch to buy the house,” in the Tribune on November 1, 2006. This is where Rita supposedly entered the picture. She would buy the lot. However, affidavits filed in the Rezko case in November 2006, show Rita could not afford it either. Her only income was a $37,000 a year from a part-time government job handed to her by Cook Country Board President, John Stroger, when she came up with $125,000 in cash and obtained a half a million dollar mortgage at the Mutual Bank of Harvey. The way Obama set up the deal, the mansion and the strip of land were placed in a Land Trust with the Northern Trust Corporation. The price of the mansion was $1.65 million, and the Obamas coughed up $330,000 to obtain a $1.32 million mortgage at Northern Trust Bank. Obama claims he got the money because he pulled off a marketing coup for book sales in July 2004, when he delivered a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention and got elected to the Senate. “Because of the attention I received during Senate campaign and the convention, my book sold well,” Obama told Chicago Sun-Times reporters during an interview on March 14, 2008
Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for OpEd News and investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government and corporate America.
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