In her cross-examination, Andrews’ attorney, Chelsy Van Overmeiren, put up a photo of one of the sticky notes on the screen and asked McCarthy whether she knew who wrote it. On cross-examination, Burke attorney Joseph Duffy pointed out that nowhere in Andrews’ memo was there a reference to Burke’s law firm, Klafter & Burke, or asking the Dhananis to hire him for property tax work. There were sticky notes with names and phone number of some of the key players in the Burger King project, as well as printed emails documenting their recent application for a driveway permit. The father and son have both testified that Burke again pitched his law firm to them over drinks, and also urged them to attend a political fundraiser at his home that January.Īlso found in another area of the office was a filed folder labeled “Burger King-Tri City Foods” and a stack of information about the Dhananis, their business locations and even a 17-page Wikipedia printout of the history of Burger King. The memo was dated the same day that Burke met with the Dhananis at the Union League Club. The document ended by noting the Dhananis had hired a construction company from New Jersey, and that Burke had mentioned to them “since they are out of Houston, they should think about local legal representation for zoning matters and so forth.” “We stopped construction on the site and it is still on hold while the Department of Transportation reviews the driveway permits that were submitted mid-November,” the memo noted. It laid out in seven paragraphs their history with the Burger King, including the lunch Burke had with the owners, Shoukat and Zohaib Dhanani, at the Beverly Country Club that June. 12, 2017, from Andrews to “EMB,” an obvious reference to his boss. On top of of the Burger King plans was a printed memorandum, dated Dec. Pulaski Road, the same restaurant at the center of an alleged scheme by Burke and Andrews to pressure the Texas-based owners to hire Burke’s private law firm for property tax work. On Andrews’ disheveled desk were some large architectural drawings of the renovation of the Burger King at 4060 S. was a sign that read, “I’M NOT BOSSY, I’M JUST AGGRESSIVELY HELPFUL” Fixed to a window there was a large Cubs sticker, a noticeable oddity in Burke’s majority-White Sox territory. In a hallway leading to the office shared by Burke’s longtime aide Peter Andrews Jr. Attorney Sushma Raju, McCarthy took the jurors through a series of photos taken that day, including the interior of Burke’s office, which was furnished with a big blue leather chair behind a wood desk, shelves filled with photos, glassware and knickknacks, and a large city of Chicago flag along the wall. “We basically introduced ourselves, said what we were there for,” McCarthy said, adding that most of the ward employees left while the search was conducted. Three or four ward employees were there, she said. Retired FBI Special Agent Pam McCarthy testified that she led a team of about 25 agents who arrived at the rear of the ward office on West 51st Street around 8:30 a.m. 29, 2018, the same day agents descended on City Hall and put up brown butcher paper over the window’s of Burke’s third-floor office suite. Thursday morning’s testimony was focused on the FBI raid on Burke’s 14th Ward offices on Nov. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors were inching closer to wrapping up their case. “Happy jurors are jurors who kind of know what’s going on.” “I’m not there yet, but that certainly something I’ll consider,” Kendall said.
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