CHICAGO _ Former Chicago Alderman Edward Vrdolyak has been indicted on tax charges in connection with an investigation into a failure to pay income taxes on fees he collected through an agreement by the state of Illinois to settle a lawsuit against tobacco companies, court records show.
Federal authorities had said in 2015 that Vrdolyak was at the center of an investigation into another Chicago attorney, Daniel Soso, who allegedly failed to pay nearly $800,000 in income taxes over two decades. Vrdolyak was indicted in the same case earlier this month, according to the court records, and the indictment was unsealed Tuesday on the order of U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve.
It marks the second indictment for Vrdolyak in recent years. Before that, Vrdolyak was long known as "Fast Eddie" for his ability to work the angles in city politics and remain clear of criminal probes. He burnished that image in 2009 when U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur spurned prosecution calls for prison and sentenced him to probation for a fraud conviction.
But prosecutors objected, and the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered that a different judge resentence Vrdolyak, calling Shadur's punishment a "slap on the wrist" that ignored Vrdolyak's status as one of Chicago's most influential insiders and gave too much weight to dozens of letters attesting to his acts of generosity.
In October 2010, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly sentenced Vrdolyak to 10 months in prison as well as the additional work release and home confinement.
Vrdolyak had pleaded guilty for his role in a kickback scheme in which a Gold Coast real estate deal was rigged so he could secretly split a $1.5 million finder's fee with corrupt insider Stuart Levine, a close friend who later secretly wore a wire on Vrdolyak.
