Politics
Businessman Who Bribed Ex-Ald. Ed Burke Hit With 2.5-Year Prison Sentence
The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois)
A Portage Park businessman will spend approximately two and a half years in prison for bribing convicted former Ald. Ed Burke, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Charles Cui, 53, of Lake Forest, was convicted in December alongside Burke of one count of federal program bribery, three counts of using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.
Cui was convicted of bribing Burke by hiring his law firm. Cui is a businessman who transformed a long-vacant Six Corners bank building into a Binny’s Beverage Depot, Culver’s and gym.
After city officials denied Cui’s request for a large pole sign outside the former bank, he bribed Burke, then the most powerful member of the City Council, to get a permit for the sign and then lied to FBI agents.
Cui is set to spend roughly eight months longer in prison than Burke, who is scheduled to start serving a two-year prison sentence in 38 days. Burke was also fined $2 million. The third defendant in the case, Peter Andrews, a longtime aide to Burke, was acquitted.
Cui is scheduled to report to prison on Jan. 10.
Before he was sentenced, Cui told Kendall he was deeply sorry for his conduct and said he regretted the pain he caused his family.
“Today is the lowest point in my life,” Cui said, struggling to maintain his composure. “This is a disgrace that will never leave me.”
Prosecutors asked Kendall to sentence Cui to more than four years in prison and send a message that the “Chicago Way” must end.
“There is a long history of bribery and graft that plagues the city of Chicago,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Chapman said. “It renders us more like a punchline for late-night comedy.”
Prosecutors described Cui as a “sophisticated attorney and property developer” who “cynically leveraged Burke’s willingness to engage in corruption in an effort to procure a city permit that he had no lawful ability to obtain. Notably, unlike the other episodes of Burke’s corrupt activity, it was Cui—not Burke—who initiated the pole sign bribery episode for which Cui and Burke were both convicted,” according to court records.
“This was not a small bribe,” Chapman said. “He tried to purchase the greatest amount of clout he could by bribing the most powerful member of the City Council.”
Burke is the 38th member of the Chicago City Council to be convicted of a crime since 1968. He is scheduled to report to prison Sept. 23.
Susan Pavlow, Cui’s attorney, asked Kendall to sentence him to probation or home confinement, saying the loss of his reputation and law license was severe punishment for Cui, who she described as a devoted family man, not a greedy and sophisticated political operator.
“He was way out of his league,” Pavlow said. “Mr. Cui lost everything.”
However, Kendall said Cui’s conduct was especially egregious because he is a lawyer and knew that bribing Burke was an attempt to corrupt the system.
The jury that convicted Cui saw evidence that he sent a doctored image to city officials to try to convince them to get the permit.
“You used your law degree to erode faith in the system,” Kendall said.
Kendall also ruled Friday that Cui intentionally withheld emails that implicated Burke and him in criminal wrongdoing from the FBI. Along with his lies to the FBI, that amounts to obstruction of justice, Kendall said.
“People must believe that they can turn to the government and be treated with honesty and integrity,” Kendall said.
Kendall acknowledged that sentencing Cui to a longer prison sentence than Burke might raise questions about fairness, but said federal law required her to judge each defendant individually.
Kendall said she sentenced the 80-year-old Burke to just two years in prison because of his advanced age, poor health and long history of helping average Chicagoans, who could offer him nothing in return.
Prosecutors had asked Kendall to send Burke to prison for 10 years.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
