{"id":8663,"date":"2025-07-10T12:03:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/federal-judge-deems-former-chicago-alderman-accused-of-bribery-unfit-for-trial\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T12:03:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:03:46","slug":"federal-judge-deems-former-chicago-alderman-accused-of-bribery-unfit-for-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/federal-judge-deems-former-chicago-alderman-accused-of-bribery-unfit-for-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge deems former Chicago alderman accused of bribery unfit for trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A federal judge ruled that a 76-year-old former Chicago<\/a> alderman accused of bribery and lying to the FBI is unfit for trial, saying it would have an “adverse effect” on her health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carrie Austin was indicted by a federal grand jury<\/a> in July 2021 “for allegedly conspiring to receive home improvements from construction contractors seeking city assistance for a development project” in her Far South Side ward, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Austin, who spent nearly 30 years on the Chicago City Council before resigning in 2023, pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to Fox32 Chicago.<\/a> Her attorneys argued that the trial, scheduled for November 2025, should be postponed indefinitely as Austin was dealing with serious health problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart ailments and cancer, the station added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Merely the act of showering or walking from room to room in her house is strenuous for the Defendant, so there is no doubt that traveling to and from the courthouse, sitting in trial all day, and traveling to meet with her attorneys at night, even with the aid of a scooter, will have an \u2018adverse effect\u2019 on her health compared to resting at home as she currently does most of the time,” Judge John Kness was quoted as saying in his ruling, after consulting with doctors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CHICAGO MAYOR VOWS CITY POLICE \u2018WILL NOT EVER COOPERATE WITH ICE\u2019<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors said Austin was charged<\/a> with one count of conspiring to use interstate facilities to promote bribery, two counts of using interstate facilities to promote bribery, and one count of willfully making materially false statements to the FBI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“According to the indictment, starting in 2014 a construction company planned to construct a residential development in Austin\u2019s ward at a cost of approximately $49.6 million,” the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It added that beginning in 2016, Austin and her chief of staff, Chester Wilson, “were provided with personal benefits by the owner of the construction company and other contractors in an effort to influence them in their official capacities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

OUSTED DEM ‘SUPER MAYOR’ CHARGES WHOPPING PRICE TAG FOR TELL-ALL BOOK WHILE DODGING LEGAL TROUBLES<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

“According to the charges, in June 2017 a contractor on the development project paid an invoice for $5,250 to cover a portion of the purchase price of kitchen cabinets at Austin\u2019s residence by falsely representing that the cabinets were for an address within the development,” prosecutors said. “In addition, in July 2017 Austin accepted from a contractor on the project an offer to pay for two \u2018brand new\u2019 and \u2018expensive\u2019 sump pumps, and to have the contractor\u2019s family member buy and install a new dehumidifier, the indictment states.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2021, Austin collapsed during a City Council meeting because of her lung conditions and was rushed to a hospital, Fox32 Chicago reported, citing court documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The station said years later, federal prosecutors tried to refute her claims of being medically unfit, arguing a surveillance video showed Austin walking in and out of a salon without help.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Judge Kness ultimately ruled her unfit for trial, noting that Austin\u2019s current state would make it hard for her to meet with her legal team and participate in her own defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

– FOX NEWS<\/p>\n

This article appeared on the website foxnews.com
\nThis article is taken based on Law no. 8\/1996 of Romania. News does not enjoy copyright, so they can be taken, this is our right to take news and information in its entirety and distribute them further. The content was made available to us through the rss mechanism
\nOriginal Content<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge ruled that a 76-year-old former Chicago alderman accused of bribery and lying to the FBI is unfit for trial, saying it would have an “adverse effect” on her health.\u00a0 Carrie Austin was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2021 “for allegedly conspiring to receive home improvements from construction contractors seeking […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1150,1],"tags":[2317,3041,5787,1920,7718,820,64,235,1484,43,1291,7719],"class_list":["post-8663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fox-news","category-news","tag-accused","tag-alderman","tag-bribery","tag-chicago","tag-deems","tag-federal","tag-for","tag-former","tag-judge","tag-of","tag-trial","tag-unfit"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal judge deems former Chicago alderman accused of bribery unfit for trial - 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