CHICAGO (CN) — Federal prosecutors began expounding on a new "bucket" of charges in the ongoing criminal trial of Chicago's longest-serving city counselor Ed Burke on Friday, this one revolving around a liquor store pole sign.
In this latest scandal from Burke's not-too-distant past, prosecutors said the former alderman, then the head of the city finance committee, attempted to solicit bribes from a local commercial property owner named Charles Cui — now Burke's co-defendant in the case — in the late summer of 2017.
Prosecutors claimed these bribes didn't come in the form of direct payments but as tax law work that Cui directed to Burke's private law firm Klafter & Burke, now rebranded as KBC Law Group. In exchange for the work — and the associated contingency fees — prosecutors claim Burke would use his then-significant power in city hall to help Cui obtain proper permits for a pole sign on his property.
The sign advertised Cui's tenant, a location for an Illinois liquor store chain called Binny's. The sign had been at the property since before Binny's moved into the space, but the city zoning committee denied the liquor store's application to reuse it.
"Binny's really needs [the sign]," Cui said in an email message to Burke's office on Aug. 23, 2017. "Otherwise they will either cancel the Iease or ask for significant rent reduction."
Cui also praised the sign as a "landmark," and bemoaned that without the right permits, he would need to have it taken down.
"It is such a beautiful sign, it is becoming a landmark for the community and it costs lots of money to remove it," Cui wrote.
For most of the day, FBI special agent Eileen McDermott was on the witness stand, testifying to that email and other communications prosecutors showed the jury to demonstrate Burke's involvement with Cui. Investigators did not produce any evidence that the pair ever had direct contact, as defense attorneys for Cui and Burke pointed out later in the day.
"There are not tapes of Mr. Burke talking to Mr. Cui, are there?" Burke's attorney Chris Gair asked McDermott during cross-examination.
"Not that I can think of," McDermott responded.
But prosecutors did show jurors correspondence showing Cui attempted to hire Klafter & Burke to handle a tax appeal for another one of his Chicago properties.
"I currently have this property 4901, 4925, 4939 W. Irving Park Road under redevelopment. I may need your representation for tax appeal ... Please let me know if you have time to handle this matter for me," Cui wrote to Burke in an email a day after sending the "landmark" pole sign message.
Between the two emails, Cui also contacted his-then current tax attorney for the 4901 Irving Park property, saying he was going to give Burke's firm the case as he needed Burke's "favor."
"He is a powerful broker in City Hall, and I need him now. I'll transfer the case back to you after this year," Cui wrote to his attorney on Aug. 24.
Cui ended up signing a contingent fee agreement with for tax work from Burke's firm on Sept. 5, 2017. Before that, on Aug. 25, Burke sent Cui — whom in messages to his office assistant he referred to as "this Chinese guy" — a message thanking him for "expressing confidence in our firm."
"Charles, I instructed my team to reach out to you. If you do not hear from them by Tuesday, let me know personally!" the message read.
Despite Burke's stated desire to help Cui, the property owner was not able to save the pole sign. The city issued a final denial of its permit application in November 2017, another note Burke and Cui's attorneys struck in their defense.
The pole sign issue represents the last of the four "buckets" of charges prosecutors brought against Burke, having spent the last several weeks digging into his alleged strong-arming of the Field Museum of Natural History to hire a family friend for an internship, as well what U.S. Attorneys said were his attempts to bully a Burger King franchise owner and the developers of Chicago's historic Old Post Office into hiring Klafter & Burke. He faces 14 charges of extortion, bribery and racketeering in total.
Prosecutors still intend to circle back to the Burger King issue before resting their case on Dec. 11.
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