USA v. Edward M. Burke
Edward M. Burke was the longest-serving member of Chicago’s City Council. But in 2019, a grand jury accused him of using his Council seat to steer business to his private law firm. He is charged with racketeering, bribery and conspiracy to commit extortion.
The FBI raided Burke’s offices in November 2018, revealing the existence of a sprawling federal investigation of state and city politics. A jury convicted Burke in December of racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion.
Chief U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall says she didn’t know her parents’ company hired Burke’s firm 30 years ago in its court fight against City Hall to keep a landfill open.
Friday’s sentencing of developer Charles Cui gave U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia Kendall a rare opportunity to reflect on the sentence she handed Chicago’s most-powerful City Council member two months ago.
The jury that convicted Burke in December found developer Charles Cui guilty of bribery and lying to the FBI.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall told Burke at the end of his sentencing hearing last month that he’d have 14 days to appeal. Nothing has been filed.
Kendall most recently made headlines with the two-year prison sentence she handed to former Ald. Edward M. Burke. Kendall’s ascension and replacement of outgoing Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer are dictated by law.
La edad de Ed Burke no disuadió a una jueza federal de enviar al ex “decano del Ayuntamiento” a prisión durante dos años por corrupción.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall seemed affected by the hundreds of letters written by Burke’s supporters. “I have never in all my career seen the letters that I have received for Mr. Burke.”
Ed Burke’s age didn’t deter a federal judge from sending the former ‘dean of City Hall’ to prison for two years for corruption.
Many current and former City Council members said U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall’s sentence struck the appropriate balance between discouraging political corruption and showing the mercy they believed Burke had earned from his many acts of kindness.
Nearly a decade has passed since an Illinois politician as significant as Burke faced sentencing at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. The need to send a message to others is sure to be on the judge’s mind when she makes her decision.
Prosecutors want a judge to give Chicago’s longest-serving City Council member a 10-year prison sentence for corruption. But defense attorneys hope to sway the judge to spare him any prison time with stories of Ed Burke’s good deeds.
Burke, 80, Chicago’s longest-serving City Council member, is two weeks away from his June 24 sentencing hearing. Burke’s lawyers have asked the judge to give their client no prison time.
Prosecutors are expected to reveal on Monday how much time they think Burke should serve. His defense attorneys are also expected to make public the ‘large volume of letters’ they say they’ve received on his behalf.
Four letters written by Vallas and others in Burke’s case became public Tuesday at the urging of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Public Media. Burke is set to be sentenced June 24 following his conviction for racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion.
Burke’s legal retirement marks a shift from earlier this month, when the state listed him as eligible to practice law despite his federal conviction.
Appeals Justice Jesse Reyes called on his Democratic primary opponent to say if she recused herself when the court failed to suspend Burke’s law license.
The former alderman’s wife, Anne Burke, served as chief justice of the state’s highest court for three years before her tenure ended in 2022.
A federal jury found former Chicago Ald. Burke guilty in December of racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion.