The Securities and Exchange Commission

[thepennyking]

Ex-Ill. Governor Ryan to Be Arraigned
By MAURA KELLY Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) - For months, former Gov. George Ryan has deflected questions about a corruption probe surrounding his tenure as secretary of state and governor. Now, prosecutors are demanding answers.

Ryan, 69, was scheduled to appear in federal court Tuesday to answer charges of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, tax fraud, filing false tax returns and making false statements.

Ryan was expected to enter a plea of innocent at his arraignment.

The indictment is the latest in the government's 5 1/2-year Operation Safe Road investigation of corruption under Ryan that began as an inquiry into bribes paid for drivers licenses.

The 22-count indictment that could send Ryan to prison for many years alleges that Ryan took payoffs, gifts and vacations in return for letting associates profit off state contracts and leases.

Ryan, a Republican who served as secretary of state from 1991 to 1999 and governor from 1999 to January, has said he knew there was a culture of corruption in the secretary of state's office but was unaware of the specifics.

Ryan became the 66th person charged in the investigation and the fourth former Illinois governor to be indicted by a federal grand jury in as many decades.

Outside Illinois, Ryan is best known as an ardent critic of the way capital punishment is carried out. He declared a moratorium on executions in Illinois after it was discovered that 13 wrongfully convicted men had been sent to death row.

In January, just before leaving office, he cleared out Illinois' death row, pardoning four condemned prisoners and commuting the death sentences of 167 others to life in prison.

The scandal was a factor in his 2001 decision not to seek a second term, and his unpopularity was considered a major reason GOP candidates were routed statewide in 2002, including the election of a Democratic governor for the first time since 1972.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/other/1110/12-23-2003/20031223001505_07.html


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