18 months in prison for Blago investigation doctor
CHICAGO - A suburban doctor who became tangled in the corruption investigation surrounding ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison for hiding $3 million in income from a tax collector.
Dr. Robert Weinstein, 64, of Northbrook was also fined $75,000 for failing to report the income. He originally claimed it was a gift but later admitted it represented the proceeds of a scheme to siphon money out of a charitable organization.
Weinstein could have been sentenced up to 37 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo took Weinstein's age and an unspecified psychiatric condition into account in imposing his sentence.
Weinstein was a business partner and confidant of Stuart Levine, the government's star witness at the trial of influence peddler Tony Rezko - a top Blagojevich fundraiser and key adviser to the former governor, himself under federal indictment.
But the crime that Weinstein pled guilty to had nothing to do with corruption in state government.
Weinstein admitted that he and Levine withdrew $6 million from the Northshore Supporting Organization, a group established to raise money for the Finch College of Health Sciences-Chicago Medical School, now known as Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
The school is based in North Chicago in Lake County.
The two men were able to withdraw the money in the form of loans because they were trustees of the supporting organization.
In return for the so-called loans, the two men left behind a pair of promissory notes for $3 million each. They then arranged to have the promissory notes sold to an unnamed foreign businessman for $1 million.
The businessman then forgave the notes as a favor to Levine.
Weinstein and Levine were able to make the arrangements because they were trustees of both the supporting organization and the school. The school was not told the face value of the promissory notes until the FBI began investigating.