Ex-camera executive says he gave gifts to Chicago official
CHICAGO (AP) - An executive at Chicago's former red light camera vendor says he gave more than $14,000 in gifts to a then-Chicago official on trial for allegedly taking bribes to steer red-light camera contracts.
Prosecutors accuse John Bills, the former second in command at Chicago's Department of Transportation, of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts to steer more than $100 million in contracts to Phoenix-based Redflex Traffic Systems. Bills faces multiple corruption counts, including bribery and extortion, and he has denied taking bribes and gifts.
Former Redflex vice president of sales Aaron Rosenberg testified Tuesday he acted as Redflex's chief handler of Bills on the orders of the company's top officials. Rosenberg said he gave Bills $14,246 in hotel stays, meals, rental cars, golf outings, computers and cigars.
"The company expected me to keep John Bills happy," Rosenberg said. "They did a good job utilizing me and then making me the scapegoat."
Bills' attorney, Nishay Sanan, told jurors last week that Rosenberg used the Chicago deal to double-dip and sought reimbursements from his employer after Bills paid him back. But Rosenberg claims Bills never reimbursed him.
Rosenberg was the second of three key prosecution witnesses to testify. Martin O'Malley, who was hired as a Redflex consultant, testified last week that he passed envelopes stuffed with thousands in cash at a time to Bills at a restaurant.
O'Malley and former Redflex CEO Karen Finley, who was also expected to testify, have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme.
Rosenberg told jurors that he received immunity from prosecutors as long as he was truthful in testimony. He said he had turned over "everything I had to the FBI," including emails, calendars and covert recordings he sometimes made illegally.
Redflex's contract was canceled by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2013 following the Chicago Tribune's reports of the alleged scheme. Bills retired from his job as the city's managing deputy commissioner of transportation in 2011, and he was charged in 2014.