In this article, we will cover the breaking news on Illinois public corruption costing Illinois taxpayers at least $550M per year. Illinois Public Corruption has been a major issue over the decades. There is no slowdown in corrupt politicians getting investigated, indicted, arrested, and sentenced to prison terms. It took no longer than four months after Illinois Governor JB Pritzker got elected for him and his wife MK Pritzker to be under federal criminal investigation.

JB Pritzker Being Looked at For Possible Tax Fraud By The FEDs

The rookie freshman governor triggered a federal criminal investigation on potential property-tax fraud. JB and MK Pritzker’s federal criminal investigation was for his role in removing toilets on a property next to his main residence on Chicago’s Gold Coast. JB and MK Pritzker’s tax fraud investigation started in early 2019. Removing the toilets made the property uninhabitable which gave the Pritzker Family a $331,000 property tax break. Once Pritzker got caught for his property-tax fraud scheme, he immediately paid the county back the $331,000 property-tax break he got.

Federal Investigators Digging Deeper Into Pritzker’s Fraud Investigation

The federal government never stopped JB Pritzker’s criminal investigation into his tax fraud scheme. After Pritzker paid the county $331,000 of property tax breaks after getting caught, the governor gave a press release stating the Feds is not pursuing his alleged tax fraud scheme and has dropped the investigation:

• This was a lie
• JB Pritzker thought and was under the assumption that everything was fine
• This was because he returned the money back to the county
• However, federal investigators continued with the governor’s criminal tax fraud investigation
• The lead to Pritzker’s criminal activities uncovered hundreds of other properties that got breaks from former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios
• The Feds have subpoenaed phone records, email records, and other documents from high-ranking elected and public officials including Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan

In this breaking news article, we will discuss and cover Illinois Public Corruption Costs Illinoisans At Least $550M Per Year.

Illinois Public Corruption on JB Pritzker Still Continues

Illinois has a national reputation for corruption.

• Chicago is ranked as the Nation’s most corrupt city
• Illinois is the second most corrupt state
• There were four governors in Illinois that were indicted and sentenced to prison
• A total of six governors were charged with federal crimes
• Can JB Pritzker be the fifth Illinois governor sentenced to prison?
• The governor came to the spotlight again after the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced they reached a deferred prosecution settlement with the Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd)
• The announcement released on Friday, July 17th, 2020 said ComEd agreed on a $200 million settlement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office under a deferred prosecution agreement
• ComEd agreed to cooperate with the ongoing federal criminal investigation into Illinois politicians
• It seems that Michael Madigan is a major part of the corruption network with ComEd
• ComEd had admitted high-ranking company officials has bribed Michael Madigan for jobs for favorable legislative action for ComEd
• As of today, we do not know the extent of how deep corruption is
• However, over 2,000 judges, lawmakers, politicians, government officials, and public servants have been arrested, indicted, tried, and sentenced to prison over the years

The list of public workers and elected officials under criminal investigation today is in the thousands according to the FBI. Even though there have been over 1,731 public officials indicted and convicted for public corruption since 1976, there does not seem to be a slowdown of wrongdoings by politicians and public officials.

How Public Corruption Impact Illinois Economy And Hurt Taxpayers

Public corruption is a very serious crime with a serious impact on taxpayers and the economy. Mike Gracz of Gustan Cho Associates is a public corruption analyst. Mike’s many years in Washington working in government has made Jammi an expert in public corruption.
Public corruption and bribery have been a way of life for Illinois politicians for decades.

The List Of Corrupt Illinois Politicians Continues

The Chicago Field Office of the FBI has the largest public corruption unit in the Nation. The FBI Chicago Field Office Public Corruption Division is also the busiest in the Nation. With the recent deferred prosecution agreement with ComEd and the electric giant talking about the role Speaker Michael Madigan and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker played in bribery, the tradition of corruption does not seem to be going away anytime soon.

Recent indictments and sentencing include the following:

• Former Chicago Alderman Willie Cochran of Chicago’s 20th Ward was arrested, indicted, convicted, and sentenced for over 12 months in federal prison for federal wire fraud on June 24th, 2020
• Outgoing Chicago Alderman Carrie Austin had her offices and home raided on June 19th, 2020 by federal investigators for potential corruption
• Chicago Alderman Edward Burke of Chicago’s 14th Ward was arrested and indicted on 14 counts of racketeering, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, and using interstate commerce to facilitate unlawful activity on May 2020
• Former Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett was sentenced in 2017 for a $23 million corruption and kickback scandal

There are countless people working with the federal government as a government witness on the criminal activity between high ranking Illinois politicians and big companies. Politicians were pushing favorable legislative rulings in exchange for these companies offering jobs to friends and family of politicians. The city of Chicago had the reputation of being the most corrupt city in the Nation for decades.

How Illinois Public Corruption Stunts Economic Growth and Hurts Homeowners

Public corruption in the state lessens taxpayers’ faith in government. It slows economic growth in the state. Many investors do not want to invest in a city and/or state that is corrupt. Bribery is the biggest form of public corruption and does the most damage to Illinoisans. Look at what the federal government is looking into on Michael Madigan and JB Pritzker. Mike Madigan has a history of giving jobs and salary increases, both government and private jobs, for his allies from his political connections. Governor JB Pritzker recently hired 34 of Mike Madigan’s allies to high state positions. Corruption affects and impacts future investments in the state by slowing economic growth. Corruption expedites and promotes the state’s reckless and unethical spending. This is one of the reasons why the state is so broke and on the verge of bankruptcy. Governor JB Pritzker recently gave over $200 million in pay raises to high-ranking Madigan ally state workers when the state is on the verge of bankruptcy. JB Pritzker also gave all state lawmakers wage increases during the coronavirus pandemic when the state has a historic budget deficit. Many politicians and lawmakers will even go to the extent of delaying business permits and licenses unless they get a bribe and/or kickback.See the chart below:
Public Corruption in Illinois is out of control. With the combination of incompetent politicians, high crimes, and a budget deficit that no tax increases can solve, the state is on the road to bankruptcy. The state needs pension reform. The state’s pension system is run like a Ponzi Scheme. Democrats, including the governor, are clueless in running state government. Lawmakers are mainly in the job so it benefits their private business lives.

See the graph below:

How To Eliminate Corruption In Illinois

Have you ever heard the saying that you are who you hang out with? Well, if you keep on sponsoring friends and family of corrupt politicians, that is what you are going to get. Look at Speaker of the House Michael Madigan. He owns a law firm that specializes in property tax appeals. Madigan controls the Democrats in Chicago and Springfield. It took the feds 30 years to get Madigan investigated and look into his private and public business affairs. This may be the end of Speaker Madigan. The new rookie freshman governor JB Pritzker is no boy scout either.

How Illinois Public Corruption Affects Homeowners

Illinois public corruption affects homeowners in more than one way. Politicians rob millions of taxpayer dollars which means high taxes, property taxes, budget deficits, and stunted economic growth due to Illinois public corruption. Within months of taking office, Pritzker and his wife MK Pritzker removed toilets from a house that he purchased. The reason he removed toilets is so he can classify the home as uninhabitable so he can get a $331,000 property tax break.

Illinois Public Corruption Continues For Decades

There is no end in sight to Illinois public corruption. There are more politicians arrested and sent to jail in Illinois than in any other state in the nation.  The Feds found out about this. Pritzker paid the County Assessor’s Office the $331,000 when he got caught. He then shrugged off the tax fraud scheme he committed and assumed federal investigators closed the tax fraud investigation. Not so fast, Governor. The governor’s tax fraud criminal investigation is still ongoing. Can Pritzker be the fifth Illinois governor sentenced to federal prison? It sure looks like it. Time will tell. In the meantime, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI are aggressively working diligently to finally end corruption in the state of Illinois.

This article on Illinois public corruption was updated on July 31st, 2022

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