Two owners of Boston Blackie's have been charged in a scheme that cost a pair of banks nearly $2 million and also created another political headache for Democratic Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias.
The father and son owners used business accounts at the Giannoulias family-owned financial institution, Broadway Bank, as part of their scheme, according to charges filed by Cook County prosecutors.
Prosecutors did not accuse Broadway Bank of any wrongdoing. But they did say Chris Giannis, 38, and his father Nick Giannis, 62, wrote checks with insufficient funds from accounts at Broadway to make deposits at other banks, then quickly moved that money out of the other banks.
The Giannoulias campaign immediately announced that any contributions from either of the Giannis' will be donated.
Giannoulias has made a big issue that his campaign won't take money from PAC's and corporations. There are, however, questions about who is supporting his campaign and their background. These two will open up questions about that.
Besides that though, while there are ties to Broadway Bank, there isn't much here against Giannoulias. There's no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Broadway Bank and certainly not Giannoulias himself. It is, however, embarrassing for a few days. Larger problems at Broadway Bank remain a much bigger problem for his campaign.
You know, I was going to say. It doesn't seem like Giannoulias did anything illegal, just really really foolish.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why his poll numbers are bouncing.