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Jury convicts Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson of tax crimes and fraudulent statements

Patrick Daley Thompson, a member of the city council, must immediately resign under state law.

Associated Press
Associated Press
| 2 min read
Jury convicts Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson of tax crimes and fraudulent statements
Patrick Daley Thompson, the grandson and nephew of two former Chicago mayors, became 11th Ward alderman in 2015. He is the first of the family to face federal fraud charges.

Update: Sentencing has been set for July 6.


CHICAGO (AP) — A grandson and nephew of Chicago's two longest-serving mayors was convicted Monday of tax crimes and making false statements.

Patrick Daley Thompson, a member of the city council, must immediately resign under state law.



Thompson was accused of falsely claiming mortgage interest deductions and lying about lines of credit from Washington Federal Bank for Savings.[1]

The jury's deliberations and verdict followed about three hours of closing arguments.

Thompson's grandfather was Richard J. Daley and his uncle is Richard M. Daley, who each served more than 20 years as mayor of Chicago.

Federal regulators closed Washington Federal in 2017. Investigators said Thompson lied about the extent of his loans to a new lender and said he only owed $110,000, not $269,000.

“When he saw the opportunity to lie, to deceive, to pay less than what he owed, he took it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Petersen told the jury.

Defense attorney Chris Gair said there's a big difference between lying and simply making mistakes.

“We all make mistakes,” Gair said. "If it were a federal crime to make a mistake then we’d all be guilty.”

He suggested the government wanted to nail someone named Daley, though prosecutors denied it.

“Nobody targeted this defendant. He did what he did,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols said.


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Notes & References


  1. Press, Associated. “Federal Tax Fraud Trial for ALD. Patrick Daley Thompson Set to Begin Monday.” Chicago Journal. Chicago Journal, February 7, 2022. https://www.chicagojournal.com/federal-tax-fraud-trial-for-ald-patrick-daley-thompson-set-to-begin-monday/. ↩︎

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