Rezko and the middle east

AP: Rezko's bond revoked; judge declares him a flight risk

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve said, among other things, she grew concerned after learning Rezko — a key supporter who contributed heavily to the campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich and raised thousands more — received $3.5 million from a company in Lebanon after claiming he didn't have any income.

Rezko will be the Democrat's nightmare. He'll be a catastrophe for the party as his story unfolds.

More from the Sun Times,

“The reality is this defendant has played a shell game,” and has “misled the court” about his financial situation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid J. Schar said.

Rezko allegedly secretly received millions of dollars in a bank account and funneled the money through third parties to family, friends and creditors -- all without telling the court, prosecutors alleged.

Rezko got $3.5 million from a British-based Iraqi billionaire to whom he has business ties and also cashed out of a large land investment on the South Side, prosecutors alleged.

The slum lord stuff is going to look like small potatoes.

And the Trib on Blagojevich and Obama's shared Rezko indigestion.

So when five of the six Democratic statewide officers from lieutenant governor to treasurer appeared Monday at a news conference urging voters to turn out for Obama in the Feb. 5 primary, Blagojevich’s absence was notable.

About an hour after the event began, Rezko, who raised campaign cash for Blagojevich and Obama, found himself jailed after a federal judge revoked his bond in advance of his corruption trial scheduled for late February.

Both the Obama and Blagojevich camps, however, insisted the governor’s absence was unrelated to Rezko’s legal travails.

Instead, they said Blagojevich was asked to call Democratic governors who’ve yet to endorse a presidential candidate and lobby them to back Obama. Blagojevich got that assignment because it’s something only he can do among the statewide officers, governor spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said.

I'd love to hear the reaction to a call from the Gov.