After two years of exhaustive pursuit, Chicago Ald. Edward Burke had finally landed “the tuna.”
And then it got away.
That was the story heard in Burke’s corruption trial Friday, where jurors have been shown evidence all week about the then-powerful Finance Committee chairman’s alleged chase of private legal work from the developers in the $600 million makeover of the Old Post Office.
Wiretaps played in court captured Burke referring to getting business from post office developer Harry Skydell as “landing the tuna.”
Hidden video footage showed Burke’s growing frustration as Skydell repeatedly dragged his feet in hiring Burke’s law firm, even after Burke had used his clout to intervene in several issues Skydell was having with the project.
Finally, in August 2018, two years after Burke first brought up getting Skydell’s business with FBI mole Ald. Daniel Solis, Burke signed an agreement with Skydell’s New York-based company, 601W, to do property tax work for another downtown building known as the Sullivan Center.
The deal called for a $15,000 flat annual retainer fee plus 20 percent of any refund “as a result of a reduction in assessed value” of the Sullivan Center property, an 800,000-square-foot, Louis Sullivan-designed building at the corner of State and Madison streets.
Bryan Oyster, an executive with Jones Lang LaSalle, which handled real estate issues for 601W, testified Friday the deal came about shortly after they closed on the building. Skydell asked him to reach out to Burke’s firm and sign them up for tax appeals, even though 601W had been using another firm almost exclusively for its Chicago properties.
“Had you heard of Klafter & Burke before?” Oyster was asked by Assistant U.S Attorney Diane MacArthur.
“I had not,” he said.
Oyster testified that he was stunned when, less than three months after inking the deal, Klafter & Burke abruptly withdrew from representing the Sullivan Center via a letter sent on Dec. 20, 2018.
That was three weeks after Burke’s City Hall and ward offices were raided by the FBI. The search warrant Burke was served on Nov. 29, 2018, showed the feds were specifically investigating his law firm business and connections to official acts as alderman.
Agents were looking for any evidence of “referral fees, fee-splitting, fee-sharing, and consulting agreements” involving Klafter & Burke, a copy of the warrant showed.
Oyster, who was not asked about the raid, testified Burke’s firm never actually was paid any money by 601W because of their sudden withdrawal.
The testimony came as federal prosecutors wrapped up its evidence in the the long saga of the Old Post Office redevelopment, the most significant portion of the racketeering indictment against Burke.
After Oyster’s testimony, prosecutors played a final wiretapped recording made by Solis on Nov. 9, 2018, just 20 days before the FBI raid of City Hall.
As instructed by his FBI handlers, Solis told Burke on the call he was planning to retire midway through his next four year term, and then “ride off into the sunset.” He also told Burke he had a line in on some big-time developers who were planning on a development near South Clark Street in Solis’ 25th Ward and would steer them to Klafter & Burke for a consulting fee.
“He says that’s gonna go, that would go really quick. And so I’m thinking within the next few months, or whatever, maybe he’s somebody else I can bring you and we can talk about a consulting situation for me,” Solis said on the recording played in court.
“Sure. As long as you remember me, yeah,” Burke responded. “We come from the old school.”
[ Ex-Ald. Ed Burke corruption trial: Evidence seen and heard by the jury ]
Afternoon Briefing
Weekdays
Chicago Tribune editors’ top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon.
In reality, Solis was planning to announce his retirement later that month, ostensibly to spend more time with his family. He’d been working undercover for the FBI since being confronted by agents with evidence of his own corrupt deeds in June 2016, and was expecting a deferred prosecution deal in exchange for his cooperation.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/5G6UWIXCHFC3LOXC67ZJI366Q4.jpg)
Burke, 79, who served 54 years as alderman before leaving the City Council in May, is charged with 14 counts including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.
[ Ed Burke trial: What you need to know ]
Prosecutors have alleged he repeatedly used his powerful office for his own personal gain, particularly in trying to get business for his tax firm.
Also on trial are Burke’s longtime ward aide, Peter Andrews Jr., 73, and Charles Cui, 52, a Lake Forest real estate developer, but neither of them is charged as part of the Old Post Office scheme.