Melvin Reynolds (born January 8,1952) is an American politician from Illinois. A member of the Democratic Party,he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995. He resigned in October 1995 after a jury convicted him of sexual assault charges related to sex with an underage campaign worker.[1][2]
Reynolds ran three times from 1988 to 1992 in Democratic Party elections for the 2nd District against incumbent Gus Savage,who was known for racially incendiary and anti-Semitic remarks that drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.[4][5] In 1988,Reynolds finished third with only 14% of the vote with multiple candidates running. In 1990,Reynolds lost,but ran much closer after Savage's conduct was criticized by the House Ethics Committee in connection with a sex scandal.[6][7]
In 1992,redistricting pushed the 2nd further into Chicago's suburbs. The New York Times reported that this change was "seen as a benefit to the 40-year-old Mr. Reynolds,whose appeals for accountability and racial unity sit well with middle-class black moderates embarrassed by Mr. Savage and whites frightened by his often combative,racially charged speech." Shortly before the primary,Reynolds was lightly injured when unknown gunmen fired shotguns at his vehicle while he was waiting at an intersection. He was given police protection for the rest of the campaign;Savage's supporters accused Reynolds of staging the incident to generate sympathy for himself and suspicion of Savage. Reynolds did not directly accuse Savage of organizing the attack.[8]
Days later,Reynolds beat Savage in the Democratic primary on March 17,and easily won the general election in November.[9] In Congress,he was granted a seat on the Ways and Means Committee,the first freshman to serve on this committee in 14 years. He voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement and introduced legislation on gun control.[10]
Convictions and resignation
In August 1994,Reynolds was indicted for sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer that began during the 1992 campaign.[2] He also faced charges of child pornography for asking the underage campaign worker to obtain "lewd photographs of another girl who was age 15" and obstruction of justice for convincing one of the girls involved to lie to authorities.[11] Despite the charges,he continued his campaign and was reelected in November without opposition.[2] Reynolds initially denied the charges,which he claimed were racially motivated.
On August 22,1995,Reynolds was convicted on 12 counts of criminal sexual assault,sexual abuse,obstruction of justice,and solicitation of child pornography.[1] He resigned his seat on October 1 of that year.[3] Had he attempted to stay in office,his role in Congress would have been very limited,as longstanding House rules state that a member convicted of a felony should not take part in floor votes or committee work until the House Ethics Committee reviews the matter.[12] Reynolds was sentenced to five years in federal prison and was expected to be released in 1998.
Bank fraud
In April 1997,Reynolds was convicted on 16 new counts of bank fraud,misusing campaign funds for personal use,and lying to FEC investigators. Specifically,one count of bank fraud,two counts of wire fraud,eight counts of making false statements on loan applications,one count of conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission,and four counts of making false statements to the FEC.
These charges resulted in an additional sentence of 78 months in federal prison,to run consecutively with his 1995 sentence. Reynolds served all of his first sentence,and served 42 months in prison for the later charges. President Bill Clinton then commuted his sentence for bank fraud and Reynolds was released from prison. He served the remaining time in a halfway house.[13][14][15][16]
In 2004,Reynolds sought to win back his old House seat,but was overwhelmingly defeated in the Democratic primary by the man who had succeeded him,Jesse Jackson,Jr.,with Jackson netting 88% of the vote.[3] Reynolds sought the seat again,running in the 2013 special election to replace Jackson after Jackson retired. He came in 7th place in the Democratic primary.[18]
Later legal troubles
On February 18,2014,Reynolds was arrested in Zimbabwe for overstaying his visa. He was allegedly found to be in possession of pornographic videos he had filmed with several women at the hotel where he was staying. Possession of pornography is a crime in the country. He had also purportedly accrued over $24,000 in hotel charges that he had yet to pay.[19] The pornography charges were later dropped,but he pleaded guilty to violating immigration laws,and was deported to South Africa.[20] He claimed in early March 2014 to be hiding there from Zimbabwean death squads,who he claimed were targeting him because he possessed information about American companies from Chicago doing business illegally in Zimbabwe.
On June 26,2015,Reynolds was indicted by a grand jury for failure to file federal income tax returns for the 2009 through 2012 tax years on more than $400,000 income.[21][22] The next month he missed his arraignment,because he claimed he could not return to the U.S. due to issues with his daughter's health. It was not clear where Reynolds was,although he had previously hidden in South Africa out of fear for his life.[23]
In April 2016,Reynolds was sentenced to two months of prison for two bond violations in his tax case and his trial was scheduled for September;Reynolds decided to represent himself in court.[24] Reynolds claims the majority of the income the government claimed should be filed on income tax returns was given by Elzie Higginbottom,the key witness for the trial on misdemeanor tax charges,to him in order to travel to South Africa to set up opportunities in real estate and the diamond industry.[25]
On September 28,2017,Judge Robert Gettleman found Reynolds guilty on tax charges,on all four counts alleging he failed to file a federal income tax return for four consecutive years.[26] He was sentenced by Gettleman to six months in prison on May 10,2018,which he began serving at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago on August 1.[21][27] At a press conference after the sentencing,Reynolds stated he planned to move to South Africa with his daughter after his release.[28]
Released into a halfway house in November 2018,Reynolds filed a lawsuit against deposed Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe and a Chicago-area businessman for what he said was "physical and psychological torture" that took place during his 2014 detainment in Zimbabwe. Reynolds received permission from the U.S. court to travel to Africa while on supervised release. But as of August 2019,he was still living in the Chicago area.[29]
Jesse Louis Jackson Jr. is an American politician. He served as the U.S. representative from Illinois's 2nd congressional district from 1995 until his resignation in 2012. A member of the Democratic Party,he is the son of activist and former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson and,prior to his career in elected office,worked for his father in both the elder Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign and his social justice,civil rights and political activism organization,Operation PUSH. Jackson's wife,Sandi Jackson,served on the Chicago City Council. He served as a national co-chairman of the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. Jackson established a consistent liberal record on both social and fiscal issues,and he has co-authored books on civil rights and personal finance.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald is an American lawyer and partner at the law firm of Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher &Flom since October 2012.
Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage was an American entrepreneur,publisher and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois.
Bill Clinton was criticized for some of his presidential pardons and acts of executive clemency. Pardoning or commuting sentences is a power granted by the Constitution to sitting U.S. presidents. Scholars describe two different models of the pardons process. In the 'agency model' of pardons the process is driven by nonpolitical legal experts in the Department of Justice. In contrast,Clinton followed the 'presidential model',viewing the pardon power as a convenient resource that could be used to advance specific policy goals.
Edward Robert Vrdolyak,also known as "Fast Eddie",is a former American politician and lawyer. He was a longtime Chicago alderman and the head of the Cook County Democratic Party until 1987 when he ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Chicago on the Illinois Solidarity Party ticket. He subsequently ran again in 1989 on the Republican Party ticket. He was a prominent opponent of Harold Washington and the de facto leader of the so-called "Vrdolyak 29" that opposed and blocked many of Washington's measures.
Antoin Rezko is an American businessman and convict. He was a fundraiser for Illinois Democratic and Republican politicians. After becoming a major contributor to Rod Blagojevich's successful election for governor,Barack Obama's campaigns,Rezko assisted Blagojevich in setting up the state's first Democratic administration in twenty years and as a result he was able to have business associates appointed onto several state boards. Rezko and several others were indicted on federal charges in October 2006 for using their connections on the state boards to demand kickbacks from businesses that wished to engage in dealings with the state. While the others pleaded guilty,Rezko pleaded not guilty and was tried. He was found guilty of 16 of the 24 charges filed against him and on November 23,2011,he was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison.
The Federal Correctional Complex,Butner is a United States federal prison complex for men near Butner,North Carolina. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons,a division of the United States Department of Justice. FCC Butner is about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Raleigh,the state capital. It includes the Bureau's largest medical complex,which operates a drug treatment program and specializes in oncology and behavioral science. Among its inmates was Bernie Madoff,who was convicted for perpetrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. He died at the prison in April 2021.
Warren Ballentine is an American motivational speaker,attorney,political activist,and radio talk show host.
Keith Farnham was a Democratic former member of the Illinois House of Representatives who resigned from office and pleaded guilty of distributing child pornography in 2014.
David M. Nangle is an American state legislator and convicted felon who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1999 to 2020. He is a Lowell resident and a member of the Democratic Party. While a member of the House,he served as the chair of the House Ethics committee. In February 2021,Nangle pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud,bank fraud,making false statements to a bank,and filing false tax returns and was sentenced to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release. He was released from federal custody on November 10,2022.
Richard Kling is a Clinical Professor of Law at the Chicago–Kent College of Law in Chicago,Illinois,where he has been teaching since 1981. He teaches evidence,forensic science,and professional responsibility. He has personally tried over 500 jury trials,including 28 capital cases,and currently has a full-time Clinical Criminal practice through the Law Offices of the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Richard Kling is well respected in the Chicago legal community and is regularly featured in Chicago local news to discuss legal news topics ranging from the Rod Blagojevich corruption charges to the Drew Peterson murder trial.
Corruption in Illinois has been a problem from the earliest history of the state. Electoral fraud in Illinois pre-dates the territory's admission to the Union in 1818. Illinois had the third most federal criminal convictions for public corruption between 1976 and 2012,behind New York and California. A study published by the University of Illinois Chicago in 2022 ranked Illinois as the second most corrupt state in the nation,with 4 out of the last 11 governors serving time in prison.
Willie B. Cochran is an American politician and former Chicago Police Department officer. Cochran served as alderman of Chicago,Illinois' 20th Ward from 2007 until 2019.
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