CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A longtime Cook County Board of Review worker pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge Friday, more than a year after the Chicago Sun-Times revealed he was under investigation by the FBI for lowering property assessments in exchange for cash.
Danilo “Danny B” Barjaktarevic, 49, faces a likely prison sentence of up to two-and-a-half years under federal sentencing guidelines, according to the feds. His sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 13.
His plea agreement anticipates that he will repay $21,000 he received during the investigation. The document also indicates he lied when he claimed that others at the Board of Review helped him lower assessments for bribes.
The criminal case against Barjaktarevic remained under seal on the court docket Friday morning, when he entered his plea during an open hearing before U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
Just before the hearing ended, Barjaktarevic told the judge he was “really sorry [for] what I did. I lost trust in my coworkers and the public.”
The Board of Review hired the high-profile law firm Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila through a contract worth up to $110,000 to look into the allegations in the exclusive Sun-Times report. Last week, the firm reported that its work had been stymied when Barjaktarevic refused to be interviewed and claimed he forgot the passcode to his county-issued cellphone.
The firm also reported finding a “strong compliance culture at the Board of Review.”
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2022. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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