Timeline of the Blagojevich investigation
www.chicagotribune.com...
Here is a timeline of the investigation:
June 7, 2004: Stuart Levine, a longtime Republican reappointed to the powerful Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, abruptly resigns on the eve
of several important hospital expansion votes. The revelation is the first indication that the Blagojevich administration is under federal criminal
investigation.
June 27, 2004: The Tribune discloses that an official for one hospital seeking permission to expand was wearing a federal bug during meetings in an
effort to expose extortion attempts by Levine and others for contributions to Blagojevich.
July 2, 2004: Levine resigns from his seat on the board of the state Teachers' Retirement System. It remains undisclosed that federal authorities had
secretly taped Levine's conversations.
May 9, 2005: Levine is indicted on corruption charges. Federal subpoenas are issued to numerous administration sources, including top Blagojevich
fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko
May 20, 2005: The governor's office acknowledges to the Tribune that Rezko has an ongoing eight-year professional relationship with Patricia
Blagojevich's home-based real estate brokerage, River Realty Inc.
Sept 15, 2005: Prominent Democratic fundraiser Joseph Cari and a former lawyer for the state's teacher's pension board pleads guilty in an extortion
scheme that steered state pension business to favored companies in exchange for campaign contributions to a high-ranking public official described in
court documents only as "Public official A."
Oct. 25, 2005: The Tribune discloses a federal grand jury investigation into the alleged political hiring practices of the Blagojevich administration,
including the governor's top hiring aide, Joseph Cini.
Sept. 10, 2006: The Tribune reveals that the FBI is investigating allegations by a one-time Blagojevich family friend that she had concerns her state
job may have come in return for a $1,500 personal check her husband wrote to one of Blagojevich's children.
Sept. 17, 2006: The Tribune reports that the Blagojevich administration skirted state hiring rules to give jobs to at least 360 people whose
applications were sent through back channels by the governor's offices and politically connected officials.
Aug. 5, 2006: The Tribune reports that Levine is cooperating with the federal investigation of state government.
Oct. 11, 2006: Blagojevich confidant and top fundraiser Rezko is indicted on federal charges he sought millions of dollars in kickbacks and campaign
donations from firms seeking state business.
Oct. 27, 2006: Political insider Levine pleads guilty in a scheme to squeeze millions of dollars from firms seeking state business. In court papers,
federal authorities spell out allegations that Rezko and another schemer, identified by sources as Blagojevich confidant and top fundraiser
Christopher Kelly, were using their influence for corrupt purposes.
Oct. 27, 2006: The Tribune reveals that Blagojevich's wife, Patricia, earned more than $113,000 in real estate commissions in 2006 through a woman
with a no-bid state contract whose banker husband--a major Blagojevich fundraiser--has business pending before state regulators. Both the FBI and the
Cook County state's attorney's office begin investigations.
March 9, 2007: Cook County prosecutors charge the woman, Anita Mahajan, with billing the state for more than $2 million in services her drug-screening
firm never performed.
April 8, 2007: Tribune reports that a close business associate of Amrish Mahajan, Amrit Patel, hosted a fundraiser for Blagojevich and was involved in
a real estate deal with Patricia Blagojevich, while seeking to expand his Dunkin' Donuts business into the state's tollway oases. The deal was never
consummated.
May 23, 2007: The Tribune reveals that federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records from Blagojevich's campaign fund as part of the sweeping
corruption probe into whether top aides and advisers exchanged state business and jobs for political support.
Nov. 4, 2007: A Tribune investigation reveals that influential lobbyist John Wyma, a longtime Blagojevich friend and confidant, bought a $650,000 home
from one of his clients that sent real estate commissions of more than $30,000 to the governor's wife. The client, Mark Wight, later won $10 million
in state road contracts.
Dec. 7: 2007: The Tribune reports that authorities are investigating Patricia Blagojevich's real estate business as part of their three-year
corruption probe into allegations of favoritism and fraud within the administration.
Dec. 13, 2007: Kelly, a Chicago area businessman and chief Blagojevich fundraiser, is indicted on unrelated federal tax evasion charges involving huge
gambling losses.
March 6, 2008: The federal trial of Rezko begins.
April 22, 2008: Ali Ata, appointed by Blagojevich as executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, admits buying the $127,000 job by
contributing to the governor's campaign, pleads guilty to obstruction of justice and agrees to cooperate.
April 26, 2008: A Tribune investigation reveals at least three of every four $25,000 donors to Blagojevich got something from the
administration--including jobs, contracts or favorable regulatory rulings.
June 4, 2008: After nearly three months of testimony that lays bare some of the innermost workings of the Blagojevich administration, Rezko is
convicted of using his political ties to the governor to orchestrate a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme.
May 31, 2008: Lawmakers pass ethics reforms targeted directly at Blagojevich and his record-setting efforts to collect campaign contributions from
state contractors.
July 30, 2008: The Tribune reports that in the month since lawmakers passed an ethics bill outlawing the governor's ability to take donations from
state contractors, the governor ramped up his efforts by collecting more than a quarter of a million dollars from those with business before the
state.
Aug. 25, 2008: Blagojevich vetoes the ethics bill saying he wants it to be tougher and to include lawmakers as well as him.
Oct. 19, 2008: The Tribune reports that more than three quarters of the $700,000 in real estate commissions earned by Patricia Blagojevich's
home-based sales company since 2000 came from state contractors, Blagojevich's family and others with political ties.
Oct. 23, 2008: The Tribune reports that Wyma, the longtime friend and former congressional chief of staff to Blagojevich, is under investigation by
federal authorities, who are probing his lobbying activity for at least one hospital client.
Oct. 30, 2008: Springfield millionaire and longtime political power broker William Cellini, who for four decades played an enormous role in Illinois'
political leadership, is indicted on charges he extorted campaign contributions for Blagojevich.
Dec. 5, 2008: The Tribune reveals that federal authorities have made covert tape recordings of Blagojevich and that Wyma has cooperated with
investigators.
Dec. 9, 2008: F.B.I agents arrest Blagojevich and his chief of staff at their homes on a broad array of corruption charges, including asking for
favors in exchange for his selection of a replacement in the senate for President-elect Barack Obama.
