Photo: Patrick Daley Thompson takes the oath of office for alderman, May 18, 2015, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Patrick Daley Thompson, the grandson of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, has been convicted of federal tax fraud.
Mayor Daley was known for the Chicago political machine he built with an iron fist as mayor of the Windy City for 43 years, having been re-elected to the office five times.
Thompson, 52, is the youngest child of Patricia Daley Martino, the oldest child of the late mayor.
A Democrat, Thompson is the first Chicago alderman to face a criminal trial since the late 1990s. He was found guilty on Feb. 14 on charges of lying to federal regulators and filing false federal income tax returns in efforts to pay a lower tax bill on loans he received from a now-closed bank, NBC Chicago reported. Thompson has represented the 11th Ward, a longtime bastion of the famed political Daley family, since 2015.
He is also the first member of his family to go on trial.
Thompson allegedly told federal regulators that he owed $110,000 on a loan he received from Washington Federal bank. The loan was actually for $219,000.
Regulators shut down the bank in December 2017, days after its president, John F. Gembara, was found dead in a bank customer’s $1 million home.
Thompson falsely claimed mortgage interest deductions for interest paid to the bank on his tax returns for the years 2013 through 2017, which cost the Internal Revenue Service $15,589, prosecutors said.
Thompson’s defense attorneys argued that Thompson didn’t realize his accountants had wrongly claimed the deductions for interest paid to Washington Federal bank, NBC Chicago reported.
Thompson did not testify.
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The jury, made up of four men and eight women, heard about three-and-a-half days of testimony in the trial that began nine months after the feds indicted Thompson with two counts of lying to regulators and five counts of filing false federal income tax returns.
The jury deliberated about more than three hours before rendering its verdict: guilty on all seven counts. Each count of lying to banking regulators carries up to 30 years in federal prison, while each count of filing false tax returns has a maximum of three years behind bars, The Chicago Tribune reported.
“When he saw an opportunity to lie, to deceive, to pay less than what he owed, he took it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Petersen said. “And his lies follow a pattern.”
Under state law, Thompson must resign from the City Council due to the conviction on felony charges. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has 60 days to appoint someone to fill the post for the rest of Thompson’s term.
Photo: Patrick Daley Thompson takes the oath of office for alderman, May 18, 2015, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
