By Cole Lauterbach | Illinois News Network Oct 2, 2018
Real estate experts say J.B. Pritzker, Democrat candidate
for Illinois governor, may have some serious legal problems stemming from a
leaked report outlining how he allegedly manipulated Cook County’s tax system
to lower his property tax bill.
The leaked report from Cook County’s top watchdog revisits
how the Chicago billionaire got tax breaks totaling more than $300,000 by
ripping out the toilets and altering other parts of one of his Gold Coast
mansions shortly before having it deemed uninhabitable by a private appraiser.
Pritzker told reporters Monday that the leak is politically
motivated, having been released the month before election day, but said he
would comply with any recommendations. He said Tuesday he would repay the
$330,000 in taxes
The report contains a subpoenaed email from one contractor
to another telling them Pritzker’s wife wants the home made uninhabitable
before an appraisal.
“MK [Pritzker’s wife] is now getting back into the task of
cleaning up 1431 N. Astor,” read an email from a contractor to another. “She is
going to have the house reassessed as an uninhabitable structure. To do this,
she would like to have us pull all toilets and cap all toilet lines in the
house. Then, after the assessment, she would like us to put the first floor
toilet back in and have this as the one functioning bathroom in the place.”
The report by Cook County Inspector General Patrick
Blanchard concluded that Pritzker was involved in a scheme that included
“obtaining money by means of false representations and, in executing the
scheme, the responsible parties caused checks to be issued by the Cook County
Treasurer and delivered by U.S. Mail according to the direction thereon.”
Richard Hagar, senior residential appraiser with the
Appraisal Institute and an expert witness in a number of appraisal lawsuits,
says the report outlines a classic case of fraud.
“That appraisal will be used by a government agency to make
a decision. That is equal to lying to that government agency,” he said, adding
that the evidence of multiple entities acting together to willfully deceive a
government entity is possibly a breach of federal conspiracy laws.
“If these other people are aware of the goal, a good
prosecutor, I would think, have a case for a conspiracy,” he said.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Attorney General
Lisa Madigan did not respond to requests for comment about whether either of
their offices would investigate.
Pritzker's campaign would not respond to requests for
comment on the feasibility of the report amounting to criminal charges.
Nathan J. Noble, a real estate attorney based in Belvidere,
says the law prohibits a property tax reduction if the structure has
purposefully been rendered uninhabitable.
"It certainly is questionable whether the portion of
the premises was 'rendered' uninhabitable - as the statute contemplates 'by
accidental means' or rendered reasonably uninhabitable by a legitimate remodel
as opposed to a fabricated controlled effort to render an otherwise
uncondemnable property uninhabitable – when apparently someone was ordered to
remove all plumbing fixtures and appliances from the property," he said,
adding that there may be exceptions hidden in Illinois' laws on the matter.
"There seems to be nothing accidental about how this
home became uninhabitable."
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