By Nick Gale, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) — Chicago Alderman Willie Cochran (20th), who pleaded not guilty earlier to corruption charges, has rejected a plea deal in which he would have had to plead guilty to a fraud count.
Prosecutors allege Cochran stole money from a charitable fund, spending some of it at casinos and using some for his daughter’s college tuition.
His attorney Christopher Grohman says that after reviewing the plea deal, the alderman could not come to terms with admitting that he defrauded people.
“The alderman acknowledges that money from that fund was spent on some of his personal expenses including money on his daughters tuition and certain withdrawals at the casino. That’s not a point of contention,” Grohman said outside of court Wednesday. “However he did put sufficient funds of his own funds into that same account sufficient to either cover or almost cover the personal expenses that he took out. Therefore all the representations he made about where the money would be spent were in fact correct and therefore do not form the basis for a federal fraud charge.”
The 15-count indictment handed down in 2016 includes bribery and wire fraud counts.
Cochran’s case will now go to trial.
@ 2018 WLS-AM News
