Jon Seidel

An executive for Shoukat Dhanani, which owned hundred of Burger King locations, said the Klafter & Burke firm “seemed very disorganized.”

Burke tried, but failed, to leverage his political clout to strong-arm business for his tax appeals firm out of the New York business that redeveloped the Old Post Office.

Joseph Pavlik spent 33 years as a firefighter before retiring in 2013, prosecutors said. He went to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a tactical vest, helmet, goggles, a gas mask and a can of chemical spray.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall denied a request for mistrial over a remark about the ‘Chicago way of doing business’ being ‘very corrupt.’ That allowed prosecutors to proceed with recordings of Burke and witness testimony.

When Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur explained that she did not expect Amtrak executive Ray Lang to make the comment, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall quickly asked, ‘What were you expecting him to say?’

Reporters could only speculate about what prompted the raid, but ex-Mayor Lori Lightfoot admits she “rode that wave ‘till it crashed on the beach.”

Special Agent Ryan McDonald’s testimony came nearly five years to the day after the FBI raided former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke’s offices Nov. 29, 2018.

COVID-19 is arguably one reason it took so long for the feds to bring ex-Ald. Ed Burke to trial in the first place. The FBI raided his offices five years ago this week. Criminal charges followed in 2019, but the pandemic helped scuttle plans to begin the trial in 2021.

“I was relieved when they said it before they got in the house that I’m not in trouble,” Shoukat Dhanani testified. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let them in.”