CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Closing arguments were presented Monday in the bank fraud trial of Chicago Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Peterson labeled Thompson a liar in the prosecution’s closing arguments. Thompson is accused of misrepresenting the amount of money he borrowed from the failed Washington Federal Bank for Savings and claiming mortgage interest deductions when the loan wasn’t a mortgage.
According to reports, Peterson said when Thompson saw the opportunity to lie, to deceive and to pay less than he owed, he took it. And he pretended to be surprised when he was caught. It was all part of his act, the prosecutor said.
“And his lies follow a pattern,” Peterson said.
Finally, she said, Thompson only amended the tax returns at issue in his trial after he was visited by federal agents and given a subpoena.
“The defendant is a lawyer,” Petersen said. “He knows a subpoena is serious business. And you know it’s common sense that he read this thing in detail. Because it’s unusual, and it’s important.”
But defense attorney Christopher Gair reportedly said Peterson’s arguments were an act of desperation, showing how much they want to convict Thompson.
Gair told the jurors they must decide the case based on evidence, not on guesses, speculation and spin from the government. He said the defense case is brimming and overflowing with reasonable doubt.
U.S. Attorney John Lausch made an appearance in the trial’s overflow courtroom Monday.
Thompson is the first sitting alderperson to face trial on federal charges in more than two decades. He is also the first member of his storied political family to go on trial.
He’s the youngest child of Patricia Daley Martino, the eldest child of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. Thompson and his wife, Kathleen, raised their three children in the late mayor’s bungalow. Thompson is also the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Thompson’s wife, their eldest daughter, siblings Courtney and Peter Thompson, and his in-laws have attended every day of the trial on the 25th floor of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
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Another grandson of the late mayor, Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, pleaded guilty in January 2014 to involuntary manslaughter, admitting he threw the punch that caused David Koschman’s death in 2004.
If Thompson is convicted, he is ineligible under state law to remain in office.
A jury of four men and eight women heard roughly three-and-a-half days of testimony in Thompson’s trial last week, mostly from government witnesses. The trial began nine months after the feds hit Thompson with an indictment charging him with two counts of lying to regulators and five counts of filing false federal income tax returns.
Thompson did not testify.
(Source: WBBM Newsradio contributed to this story along with 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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