Former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke sentenced to 2 years in prison in corruption case, fined $2 million
CHICAGO — Former Chicago Ald. Edward Burke was sentenced Monday to 2 years in federal prison in a corruption case that rocked city politics and ended the Democratic stalwart’s storied and controversial six-decade career.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall handed down the sentence, and a $2 million fine, after a lengthy hearing that featured Burke making a brief statement to the court on his own behalf.
Kendall said she had never received so many letters vouching for a defendant’s good character, and seemed touched by the stories of everyday people to whom Burke reached out, unprompted, to help. The sentence was well below what prosecutors sought.
The two-year period of criminal conduct for which Burke was convicted does not wipe away those decades of good works, Kendall said. But the courts have to deter other public officials from becoming “part of this erosion, part of this chipping away at our democracy, really whittling away at our rule of law,” she said.
The hefty $2 million fine is unusual, Kendall acknowledged. But the money will go to help victims of crime in which the
