Politics
Send Businessman Who Bribed Ex-Ald. Ed Burke to Prison for 4 Years, Feds Urge Judge
The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois)
A Portage Park businessman should spend at least four years in prison for bribing convicted former Ald. Ed Burke, prosecutors told a federal judge.
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.
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.”
- Read prosecutors’ full request to sentence Cui to at least four years in prison.
- Read Cui’s request for probation or home confinement.
However, Cui’s attorneys’ asked Kendall to sentence him to probation or home confinement, describing the businessman as a hard-working Chinese immigrant who “became a devoted family man, loving husband, successful lawyer and businessman, and valued member of the community.”
Cui is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 16. Burke was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $2 million on June 24. The former alderperson is scheduled to report to prison on Sept. 23.
“Motivated by sheer greed, Cui attempted to use corruption of an elected official as a tool to line his pockets with money,” according to prosecutors. “The fact that Burke was more than willing to accept Cui’s corrupt offer does not mitigate Cui’s offense conduct.”
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. Even though that gambit failed, it is evidence that Cui was determined to perpetrate a fraud on the city, according to prosecutors.
In addition, prosecutors described Cui lying to FBI agents “with ice-water calm” while attempting to prevent them from obtaining emails that implicated him in the scheme to bribe Burke. Cui has never expressed remorse or accepted responsibility for his conduct, according to prosecutors.
“Under any objective metric, Cui’s offense conduct was serious and repugnant to the rule of law and the effective functioning of government,” prosecutors wrote. “His attempt to bribe his way out of a financial problem only deeply aggravates the public’s already cynical view that politicians can be bought and wealthy developers can corrupt the system to their financial advantage. As an attorney, Cui’s criminal conduct, including his lies to the FBI, further brings the legal profession into disrepute.”
Cui also “presents a strong risk of recidivism,” requiring a significant prison sentence.
Cui’s lawyers said there is no evidence to support that assertion, emphasizing Cui’s lack of a criminal record.
After Cui was indicted, city officials reversed a decision to subsidize the redevelopment of the bank building, according to his lawyers.
“As a result, the property went into foreclosure, and [Cui] is being sued for his personal guarantee on the loan,” according to the sentencing request from his lawyers. “His law license is suspended, and he will eventually be disbarred. Even a probationary or home confinement sentence will send a strong message to the public who sees Mr. Cui lose his development, his investment, his law license, and become a convicted felon.”
Prosecutors acknowledged that sentencing Cui to a longer prison sentence than Burke might raise questions about fairness, but urged Kendall to dismiss those concerns.
“Comparatively, Burke is a more culpable and serious offender than Cui insofar as Burke, an elected public official, was convicted of bribery and extortion related offenses deriving from conduct unrelated to the pole sign permit episode,” prosecutors wrote. “In sentencing co-defendant Burke, however, the Court concluded that there were significant mitigating factors, including Burke’s age. In short, those same mitigating factors simply are not present as to Cui so any disparity in the sentences is not unwarranted. Cui is relatively young, in good health, and will return to the business world.”
Cui has already been punished enough, his lawyer told the judge.
“His lifetime of hard work to make something of himself and make his family proud is now tarnished with a felony conviction,” according to the request. “He has an extremely loving, and supportive family and community who have attested to his lifetime of service and support. Mr. Cui understands the seriousness of his conduct. However, the charged offenses stand in stark contrast to his otherwise exemplary life and character.”
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
