Rezko Attorney ‘Owns’ Obama Mansion?
Well hell now … THAT ain’t “news” worthy of digging into or broadcasting at ‘puke-levels’ …
Is it?
Let’s play “Switch That Political Party” with this one, shall we?
Imagine, if you will, a republican with such ‘unanswered’ questions concerning their home, and the purchase there of … and now the ‘ownership’.
Recall how the MSM had a literal field day with the McCains’ “How many homes do you own?” episode.
His wealthy wife aside, and the various reasons for multiple properties that she/they own … I believe the more titillating story has always rested in how the fuck did the Obama/Rezko house/property purchase go down … and precisely WHY is someone else’s name down as the ‘owner’ of said house.
But I strongly suggest you do not hold your breath waiting for the MSM to get to the bottom of this …
Death By 1000 Papercuts offers a slight explaination of the mysterious circumstances (some of this maybe re-hash … but as I have stated before, the whole damn thing eventually makes MY head spin):
The mystery of William Miceli is solved.
According to documents posted on the Obama-Biden website, Barack and Michelle Obama entered into a “Land Trust†Agreement, with William Miceli acting as their agent. All bills are to be forwarded to Miceli, including the property tax.
We’re still confused as to why Miceli is listed as the “owner†on the Cook County Tax Assessment.
The blog, Strata-Sphere, has turned up some interesting information relating to Obama’s Chicago home.
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Major Update: SBD in a comment below speculates on how Rezko and Obama may be tied to Nadhmi Auchi, a billionaire Iraqi who did business for Saddam Hussien:
Here are a few interestiing quotes from the court documents in the Rezko criminal case.
Through records from Northern Trust Bank, the government has learned there was an approximately $3.5 million wire transfer in April 2007 of which a substantial portion immediately was directed to Rezko’s relatives. More specifically, according to Northern Trust bank records, on April 4, 2007, a bank account (the “MMDA accountâ€Â) held at Northern Trust by the law firm of Freeborn & Peters (â€ÂFreebornâ€Â) received an incoming wire transfer of approximately $3,499,471 from a bank in Beirut, Lebanon. The originator of the wire transfer was identified as General Mediterranean Holdings, SA (â€ÂGeneral Mediterraneanâ€Â).
General Mediterranean is owned by Nadhmi Auchi, who public source documents describe as a British-based Iraqi billionaire who was convicted several years ago in France on fraud charges. Auchi was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $2 million euros, but the sentence was suspended as long as Auchi committed no new crimes. Thereafter, in November 2005, after Auchi was unable to enter the United States, Rezko directly appealed to the State Department to permit Auchi to enter the United States and, it appears, asked certain Illinois government officials to do the same.
The plot thickens! Check out this bit of info:
In 2004, Rezko’s phones were already being wiretapped and several of these recording have been released to the public. At the same time, his banking transactions were already coming under scrutiny. THerefore, Fiztpatrick knows exactly how Obama purchased that mansion, and I bet it wasn’t from book sales!!
In June 2004, Aboud Rezko wrote a $25,000 check to Individual U. Prior to the Aboud Rezko check, Individual U received checks from a company affiliated with Individual D; checks that the government has alleged were the proceeds of the charged fraud scheme in the instant case. See 12/21/07 Santiago Proffer at 36. After the June 2004 Aboud Rezko check, until at least May 2006, Rezko-related businesses wrote nearly monthly $25,000 or $30,000 checks to Individual U, for a
total of over $500,000.
[SBD: If I remember correctly, wasn’t the price Obama paid for that mansion $1,675,000??]
On April 5, 2007, a $275,000 check drawn on the client’s fund account [Northern Trust] was issued to CI2. According to CI2, as of March 1, 2006, Rezko owed CI2 approximately $1,675,000 with interest at an annual rate of approximately 20% interest.
CI2 has been cooperating with the government since approximately March 2006. To date, the information that he/she has provided has proven accurate. CI2 has not been provided with any financial incentives for his/her cooperation. Evidence gathered to date indicates that CI2 has been involved in several fraud and other criminal schemes, and has been informed by the government he/she will be charged in relation to his/her criminal activity. The fact ofCI2’s cooperation with the government was not disclosed to Rezko until December 2007.
Who is individual CI2? The dates do not line up with the Obama home purchase, but the coincidence of the amount is intriguing. Miceli? - end update
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Listed in the Cook County Records Property Tax Assessments as “owner†of Obama’s home isn’t the President-elect, nor his wife, but attorney William Miceli. The same attorney cited as a source by the Washington Post and Chicago Sun-Times regarding Obama’s ties to Tony Rezko. Miceli was Obama’s former supervisor at the Davis Law firm that represented Rezko.
ALSO at DBKP: Obama Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Chicago Home Mortgage $903,000 over Legal Limit
Rezko attorney ‘owns’ Obama mansion
By Jerome R. Corsi
Lawyer at firm where Democrat worked receives tax bill
An attorney for convicted fundraiser Tony Rezko is listed as the owner and taxpayer for Barack Obama’s Chicago mansion, according to records obtained by WND.
William Miceli is a lawyer at the Chicago law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland, which also formerly employed Obama.
The controversy began when a website called News and Commentary for Thinking People published a 48-page document that lists Miceli as the owner of the Obama home at 5046 S. Greenwood.
Miner, Barnhill & Galland was Obama’s employer when he did extensive legal work for Rezko, who awaits sentencing after he was convicted in June of fraud, money laundering and bribery-related counts.
Miceli, as a senior attorney at the firm, supervised Obama when the future president wrote letters on behalf of Rezko urging public authorities to award him new public properties to rehabilitate, notes the “Barack Book” website maintained by GOP.com.
WND asked for comment from Obama’s transition team and the Democratic National Committee but did not receive a response.
Investigative reporter Tim Novak at the Chicago Sun-Times has identified 15 building projects that Rezmar, Rezko’s development company, redeveloped while it was represented by Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland during Obama’s time at the firm.
The law firm changed its name when senior partner Allison Davis left to join Rezko in his schemes to take out loans on low-income housing projects. Several of the transactions remain under investigation, because the millions of dollars Rezko borrowed against the properties to make redevelopments are gone, while many of the properties remain boarded up and uninhabitable.
Following the Jan. 21 Democratic Party primary debate, Miceli told the Washington Post that he was Obama’s supervisor at the law firm, in response to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s charges Obama had worked for a Chicago slumlord, Rezko.
The Post said “Obama denied doing any legal work directly for Rezko or his companies,” contending Obama had done only “about five hours worth of work” on a joint real estate development project involving Rezko and a Chicago church group.
Miceli told the Post Obama “was a very junior lawyer at the time, who was given responsibility for basic due diligence, document review.”
Miceli said Obama “did what he was told by the firm,” minimizing the importance of any work Obama admittedly did for the Rezko account.
WND confirmed the tax bill for the Obama home is mailed to Miceli, not to Obama or the Northern Trust account through which Obama has claimed the home was purchased.
Records from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office give the PIN number for the Obama property as 20-11-115-037-0000 and list Miceli as the person who receives Obama’s property tax invoice by mail.
Eric Herman, a spokesman for the Cook County assessor, confirmed to WND that the Treasurer’s Office records were correct and that Miceli did receive the Obama property tax invoice by mail.
Miceli did not return a call WND placed to him at Miner, Barnhill & Galland.
Herman told WND a second PIN number, 20-11-115-036-0000, identified the vacant lot next to the Obama mansion that was purchased by Rita Rezko, Tony Rezko’s wife.
Here, WND found conflicts between the tax records maintained by the Cook County Treasurer’s Office and the deed information maintained by the Cook County Recorder of Deeds.
Rosslyn Whitlock, an Internet support specialist at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, confirmed to WND that the office has no information listed for the Obama home under the PIN number 20-11-115-037-0000, the number used by the Cook County Assessor’s office for property tax purposes.
Records at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds list Rita Rezko as the holder of the warranty deed for the vacant lot at 5050 S. Greenwood adjoining the Obama mansion, under the PIN number 20-11-115-036-0000.
WND was able to locate warranty information at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds , which Herman at the County Assessor’s office told WND was the “old PIN number” assigned to the Obama home at 5046 S. Greenwood Avenue, before the home was sold to Obama.
Neither spokesman could explain to WND the discrepancy in PIN numbers, nor why the Cook County Recorder of Deeds has no information filed under the new PIN number assigned to the property after the Obama purchase.
Records with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds under the PIN number 20-11-115-034-0000 indicate the mortgage is held by Northern Trust Company under trust number 10209, which Obama has indicated was the trust the Obama family used to purchase the home.
Meanwhile, WND has reported that since arresting Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has taken new interest in Rezko’s involvement in the Obama mansion purchase.
WND also reported real estate credit analyst Kenneth Conner has filed a civil suit alleging he was wrongfully dismissed by Mutual Bank of Harvey for objecting to what he considered a fraudulent appraisal of the vacant lot. The appraisal was submitted by the Rezkos at an intentionally high figure, he claims, permitting them to borrow an additional $125,000 that amounted to a “political payoff” to Obama.
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