{"id":422614,"date":"2010-03-12T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0120a92d67da970b"},"modified":"2010-03-12T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T12:00:00","slug":"blackies-allegations-another-embarrassment-for-giannoulias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/422614","title":{"rendered":"Blackie’s allegations another embarrassment for Giannoulias"},"content":{"rendered":"

From today’s print edition<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Restaurant owners charged in check-kiting scheme<\/h2>\n

Father and son who ran Boston Blackies ripped off banks for $1.9 million, prosecutors say<\/h3>\n

By Matthew Walberg, John Chase and David Jackson, Tribune reporters<\/p>\n

A father and son who operated the Boston Blackie’s burger restaurants
\nwere charged Thursday with ripping off nearly $1.9 million from two
\nbanks in a check-cashing scheme, and authorities said they arrested the
\nfather on the U.S. border as he was trying to enter Canada.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nThe allegations caused a new round of political embarrassment for
\nDemocratic U.S. Senate candidate and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias,
\nwhose family owns Broadway Bank and has long known the father and son.\n<\/p>\n

The Blackie’s operators are accused of writing bad checks from their
\naccounts at Broadway to other banks as part of their alleged scheme.
\nLongtime Blackie’s operator Nick Giannis gave Giannoulias more than
\n$114,000 in campaign contributions for his treasurer and Senate
\ncampaigns.
<\/br><\/p>\n

\n
<\/br>
\nGiannoulias was in a state of "shock and disbelief" at the news,
\naccording to his campaign, which announced he would donate an
\nequivalent amount to local charities.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nGiannis, 62, his son, Chris, 38, and restaurant manager Andy
\nBakopoulos, 38, were charged with defrauding Charter One and Washington
\nMutual banks. Chris Giannis also was charged with two counts of being
\nan organizer of a continuing financial crimes enterprise.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nNick Giannis was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
\nofficers in Detroit while attempting to enter Canada after he failed to
\nsurrender to authorities and investigators sent out a nationwide alert.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nProsecutors said the men participated in a so-called check-kiting
\nscheme in which they wrote checks from bank accounts that didn’t have
\nenough money and deposited those checks at Charter One and Washington
\nMutual. They then withdrew money from their Charter One and Washington
\nMutual accounts before the checks actually cleared, or in some cases
\nstopped payments on the checks.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nCook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez did not identify a motive
\nfor the alleged scheme. But a law enforcement source said the Giannis
\nfamily had overextended itself and was trying to stave off creditors on
\nbills owed related to the business and some expansions or new ventures
\nthey had planned.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nChris Giannis’ attorney, former Cook County State’s Attorney Dick
\nDevine, said his client was "caught up in a tough business situation,
\nand he did the best he could under difficult circumstances." Giannis
\nwas allowed to take out more money than what was in the Charter One
\nbank account, according to Devine, who said such overdraft protection
\nis commonly extended to restaurant owners because of the unpredictable
\nnature of their business.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br> In a proffer filed by prosecutors, Bakopoulos admitted stopping
\npayment on checks he had just deposited and acknowledged he knew that
\nwas wrong. But he said he was told to do it by Chris Giannis and needed
\nthe job.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nThe Boston Blackie’s chain, which expanded from a single restaurant in
\nthe River East neighborhood in the 1980s to eight outlets in the city
\nand suburbs, has struggled financially. The company filed for
\nbankruptcy late last year.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nThe restaurants have remained open during the bankruptcy proceedings,
\nand Thursday’s charges were not expected to have any immediate impact,
\naccording to an attorney representing the Boston Blackie’s management
\ncompany.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nBroadway Bank is listed in the bankruptcy case as an unsecured
\ncreditor, owed $1.6 million for a commercial loan to the Boston
\nBlackie’s restaurant in Lincoln Park.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nBroadway Bank was not a victim of the scheme nor was it accused of any wrongdoing, prosecutors said.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nBut the case brought unwanted attention to a political soft spot for
\nGiannoulias. He has faced tough questions about loans Broadway Bank
\nmade to people with criminal backgrounds while he was the senior loan
\nofficer and what role he played in financial decisions that have left
\nthe bank on the brink of insolvency.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nThe charges came on a day when Giannoulias was trying to change the
\nconversation, holding a news conference at a small business in the West
\nLoop to promote his jobs plan and slam his Republican opponent, U.S.
\nRep. Mark Kirk, about his votes that favored "Wall Street and special
\ninterests." Instead, by the end of the day, Kirk was firing back,
\nsaying Broadway’s mention in the Boston Blackie’s case represented a
\n"disturbing pattern."
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nIn a 2006 interview with the Tribune, Nick Giannis said he has known
\nthe Giannoulias family for years and was a friend of Giannoulias’
\nfather, Alexis, who oversaw the loans to Giannis. He said he was not
\ndonating to Giannoulias’ campaign to win favor with Broadway.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\n"I am doing it because the kid is an honorable, hard-working guy,"
\nGiannis said. "This has nothing to do with the bank or any loans. It’s
\njust a personal thing."
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nAll three men were in custody Thursday night.
<\/br>
\n
<\/br>
\nTribune reporter Annie Sweeney contributed to this report.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From today’s print edition: Restaurant owners charged in check-kiting scheme Father and son who ran Boston Blackies ripped off banks for $1.9 million, prosecutors say By Matthew Walberg, John Chase and David Jackson, Tribune reporters A father and son who operated the Boston Blackie’s burger restaurants were charged Thursday with ripping off nearly $1.9 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}