Antoin Rezko
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Antoin "Tony" Rezko is an Illinois restaurant and real estate developer currently facing federal charges of attempted extortion, money laundering, and fraud.
Rezko was born in 1955 in Aleppo, Syria to a Christian family. After graduating from high school there, Rezko moved to Chicago and earned an engineering and construction degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Rezko then moved into a career as a real estate developer.
In addition, he began investing in a variety of fast-food restaurants, starting with a chain of Panda Express Chinese restaurants before soon owning a chain of Papa John's Pizza stores in multiple states. [2][3]
In October 2006, Rezko was indicted for alleged extortion of businesses seeking to do business with the Illinois Teachers Retirement System Board and the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. In addition, he has been charged with staging false transactions of his pizza stores in order to secure $10 million in loans from GE Capital. [4]
Many Illinois Democratic politicians have received funds from Rezko, including Governor Rod Blagojevich, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Comptroller Dan Hynes, former Cook County Board President John Stroger, and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. [5] Rezko also provided help to Republicans, raising money for former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and holding a megamillion-dollar fund-raiser for President George W. Bush in 2003. [6]
[edit] Controversy with Barack Obama
In November, 2006, Barack Obama acknowledged his participation in a real estate deal to which Rezko was a participant. Under the deal, Obama and Rezko purchased adjoining properties, with Rezko later reselling part of his parcel to Obama. No laws are alleged to have been broken and Obama is not under investigation. Obama acknowledges that the exchange may have appeared improper, and stated "I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it." [1]
