Judge Refuses to Overturn Conviction of Former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson

A file photo shows Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward) at a Chicago City Council hearing on April 12, 2016. (WTTW News)A file photo shows Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward) at a Chicago City Council hearing on April 12, 2016. (WTTW News)

Former 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson’s conviction on seven charges that he lied to federal bank regulators and filed false tax returns will stand, a federal judge ruled late Friday.

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In a 63-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama rejected the former alderperson’s bid for a new trial or an outright acquittal. The judge’s ruling came after he held a brief hearing Friday morning in Daley Thompson’s long-shot bid to reverse the conviction that forced his removal from the Chicago City Council, ended his political career and is likely to send him to prison.

Read the judge's full ruling.

Daley Thompson’s attorneys urged Valderrama to overturn his conviction because he did not make a false statement, as defined by federal law, because his statements were literally true.

Prosecutors convinced a jury that Daley Thompson repeatedly lied to get out of repaying the $219,000 he borrowed from Washington Federal Bank for Savings. The Bridgeport bank failed in 2017, and federal bank regulators began working to collect that debt from the alderperson.

Daley Thompson was found guilty of making a false statement when he told bank officials and federal agents that he only owed $110,000. Daley Thompson’s attorneys said that statement was “literally true” because he had borrowed $110,000.

However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jermey Daniel told Valderrama in the brief hearing that because Daley Thompson had actually borrowed a total of $219,000 from the now-defunct bank, the substance of his statement was false.

Daniel said it was similar to someone who had five marbles in a closed fist telling another person they have three marbles in their hand. While there are three marbles in their hand, that statement is designed to create a misleading impression, Daniel said.

However, Jeffrey Eberhard, representing Daley Thompson, said the conviction should be reversed because the statement made by the former alderperson and attorney was true and did not meet the standard set by federal law to qualify as a false statement.

Valderrama’s ruling determined that Daley Thompson’s statements did not have to be literally false for the jury to properly find him guilty on the charge of making false statements about the amount of money he borrowed or owed.

In addition, Valderrama ruled that there was enough evidence for the jury to properly determine that Daley Thompson knew he had borrowed a total of $219,000, not a total of $110,000, when he made the statements at the heart of the false statement charge against him.

Valderrama’s ruling also found that the jury did not err in concluding that Daley Thompson told the agents for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that the loan was for home improvements in an attempt to dissuade them from examining the documentation of the loans and discovering that Daley Thompson borrowed an additional $20,000 and $89,000 on two separate occasions from Washington Federal.

On that count, Valderrama wrote in his ruling that he “would not have been surprised if the jury had returned a not guilty verdict, but it matters not,” since that is the job of the jury.

In rejecting Daley Thompson’s plea for a new trial, Valderrama wrote that “the jury’s verdict on all counts was not contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence,” the standard under federal law.

In addition, Valderrama ruled that it was not improper for Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols to tell the jury during prosecutors’ closing arguments that Daley Thompson attempted to implement a premeditated “plan” to trick bank officials and federal agents into believing he had only borrowed $110,000, rather than $219,000, so he could pay less than what he owed.

That argument was based on “proper inferences” drawn from the evidence presented at trial, Valderrama ruled.

There was also no reversible error when Netols suggested that Daley Thompson “blamed the voters” of Chicago for his legal woes, Valderrama ruled. Daley Thompson’s attorneys objected to that statement during Netols’ closing argument, and Valderrama sustained that objection.

However, that statement did not violate Daley Thompson’s right to a fair trial in part because Daley Thompson’s own attorneys argued that one of the reasons he was confused about how much money he had borrowed and for what purpose was because he was overscheduled and overtaxed by his duties as an attorney and a member of the City Council.

Once considered the heir to the political empire built by his grandfather, former Mayor Richard J. Daley, and his uncle, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, Daley Thompson’s conviction meant he was longer eligible to serve as a member of the Chicago City Council under state law. 

Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed Ald. Nicole Lee to replace Daley Thompson, and she will represent the 11th Ward until the 2023 elections.

Daley Thompson did not testify during the trial, and has not spoken publicly about the seven criminal charges since he proclaimed his innocence after he was indicted in April. 

Each false statement count Daley Thompson faces is punishable by a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, while each tax count is punishable by up to three years. However, if convicted, Daley Thompson is likely to serve less time in prison based on sentencing guidelines.

Daley Thompson is scheduled to be sentenced by Valderrama at 10 a.m. July 6.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]


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