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| "Middle Man" Testifies in Blago Trial |
A witness in the political corruption trial of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he was telling the truth on the stand.
Joseph Aramanda testified Wednesday that no one told him he was being used as a front man when he got a $600,000 loan from a lobbyist. Aramanda says he needed the loan to prop up restaurants he bought from Blagojevich fundraiser and convicted political fixer Tony Rezko but was later told by Rezko to dole it out. The money was a kickback from directing state bonds to one investment firm.
Asked by reporters outside of the court house if he had been telling the truth, Aramanda said he had.
"There's no way would I jeopardize making any story up," Aramanda said. "I told the truth." He added that he wouldn’t jeopardize his immunity agreement by perjuring himself.
An IRS investigator later testified she was able to trace the money, some of which ended up in the hands of Blagojevich fundraiser Chris Kelly.
Meanwhile Joseph Cari, who was convicted of attempted extortion for helping Stuart Levine scheme to make money from the Teachers Retirement System, took the witness stand towards the end of the day. His testimony began with a recollection of a Blagojevich fundraising trip to New York City. Cari says he, Levine, Rezko, Kelly and Blagojevich took a jet chartered by Levine. Cari says most of the trip he sat with Blagojevich, who talked about fundraising. Cari testified that Blagojevich told him about how a sitting governor could bring in a lot of donations by handing out "consulting contracts, legal contracts, investing contracts [and] banking allocations from pension funds." Cari says Blagojevich told him could later ask those people for campaign contributions.
After court ended for the day, Judge James Zagel asked the prosecution and defense attorneys to "talk amongst your selves" and come up with some rules to follow when talking to the media. In the meantime, Zagel ordered them to "exercise some discretion" over the course of the next few days.
Direct examination of Cari continues Thursday.
Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to scheming to sell a U.S. Senate seat and plotting to launch a racketeering scheme.
(Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 06 17 10 by Newsroom |
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