Dec. 09--A federal judge on Monday declared President Barack Obama's friend Eric Whitaker a hostile witness in a Chicago couple's multimillion-dollar state grant scam trial.
The rare designation allows prosecutors more leeway in questioning Whitaker, who led the state public health agency when the grants were handed out. Federal prosecutors, however, said they still have yet to decide whether they will call Whitaker as a witness before the jury in the case of Leon and Karen Dingle, who stand accused of benefiting personally from faith-based grants designed to help fight AIDS, pandemic flu and breast cancer.
Authorities have said the Dingles spent more than $3 million in grant money on luxury cars, yacht club expenses and vacation getaway spots in Savannah, Ga., and Hilton Head, S.C. Both Dingles have pleaded not guilty and have been on trial for weeks.
In recent weeks, prosecutors turned up the heat on Whitaker, telling U.S. District Judge Richard Mills that Whitaker had agreed to cooperate but later stopped his cooperation and refused to answer questions on whether he had a personal relationship with Quinshaunta Golden, his former chief of staff who had oversight of grants. Golden, the niece of Democratic U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, has pleaded guilty to corruption in the case.
Mills called for the Monday hearing when Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Bass sought the hostile designation, saying he wanted to observe Whitaker before making the ruling.
After what prosecutors said was months of balking, Whitaker met with them Monday morning, and Bass offered Mills an opportunity to review an hour-and-a-half recording. But Mills told lawyers he wanted to skip the tape and put Whitaker on the stand. And so Whitaker testified outside the presence of the jury for more than two hours.
Whitaker acknowledged he accepted food and entertainment in places like Las Vegas from Leon Dingle while they attended a bird-flu summit, but Whitaker said his practice was to report such expenses on state ethics reports. Whitaker said he did not know how much the event cost.
Bass also raised questions about Dingle's ties to expenses at a yacht club in Chicago and a football game between two historically black schools.
Prosecutors also have alleged Whitaker was given an award by a medical association that benefited from $50,000 siphoned from state grants. Prosecutors contend Whitaker had solicited a $25,000 contribution for the group from an unnamed person to be a co-chair of the event where he would be honored.
With Whitaker on the stand, Bass questioned if the whole hearing could have been avoided if Whitaker had met with federal authorities earlier. Whitaker said he had thought about it and didn't think so.
Whitaker, who is African-American, testified he had "concerns" about the racial and political motivation of the ongoing investigation into state grant fraud. "What I don't support is a selective investigation," Whitaker said.
Asked about Golden on Monday, Whitaker testified it is "fair to say" he had more than a professional relationship with Golden. "She is a good friend of mine," Whitaker said.
Whitaker acknowledged Golden called him "crying" when she was about to be indicted in 2013, saying she had done "something wrong."
Whitaker said he disagreed strongly with the idea that he is a hostile witness, saying, "I'm not hostile. I'm angry. But I'm not hostile."
But after hearing the testimony, Mills ruled that Whitaker is "hostile to the government, and I declare him to be so."
rlong@tribpub.com
Twitter @raylong
