Each count against 50-year-old Ryan Ross and 47-year-old Vanessa Rhodes is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.
The indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office claims Ross---while a Director at the CHA---illegally steered nearly $5M in construction and renovation work to business owned by Rhodes, and that in return, she sent more than $400,000 in kickbacks to Ross.
The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Machelle Jindra, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, and Kathryn Richards, Inspector General of the CHA. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Prashant Kolluri and Hanna Helwig.
“Corruption in the awarding of public housing contracts undermines trust, distorts competition, and diverts already scarce resources,” said U.S. Attorney Boutros. “Holding individuals accountable when they exploit their positions for personal gain is essential to protecting the integrity of our public institutions, ensuring that taxpayer funds are properly safeguarded, and making sure that everyday people in need of public housing assistance get the support they are entitled to under the programs. I urge anyone with knowledge of misconduct in the procurement of public contracts to report it to law enforcement; your vigilance is critical to protecting the fairness and transparency our taxpayers and everyday citizens deserve.”
“Ryan Ross and Vanessa Rhodes allegedly took advantage of a position of public trust to engage in a kickback scheme to enrich themselves,” said HUD-OIG SAC Jindra. “Their scheme corrupted the fair and competitive contracting process and undermined the confidence in the integrity of HUD-funded programs. HUD-OIG will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and hold accountable individuals who misuse public office for unlawful personal enrichment.
“Since the beginning of this investigation, the CHA-OIG has worked side‑by‑side with federal law enforcement to hold Ross and Rhodes accountable for their egregious corruption,” said CHA IG Richards. “They hijacked a program meant to repair and preserve Chicago’s already scarce public housing, diverting public funds to enrich themselves. We are grateful to HUD-OIG and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for aggressively pursuing this case and helping us expose and eliminate fraud in CHA programs.”
The accused individuals are charged with eight counts of services fraud against the CHA
The accused individuals are charged with eight counts of services fraud against the CHA
