Chicago Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, grandson of former Mayor Richard J. Daley and nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, has been charged in a federal indictment related to a bank in the Bridgeport neighborhood where the powerful family has lived for decades.
The seven-count indictment charges Daley Thompson with allegedly filing false tax returns and lying about more than $200,000 in loans received from Washington Federal Bank for Savings, which was shut down.
One or more of the loans, according to the indictment, was allegedly never reported or fully paid. The loans were allegedly received by Daley Thompson before he was elected alderman.
According to the indictment, after Washington Federal was shut down in 2017 and the FDIC tried to obtain repayment from Thompson in 2018, "he falsely stated that he owed only $110,000 and that those funds were for home improvement, when Thompson knew he had actually received $219,000 and that $110,000 of it was paid by the bank to a law firm as Thompson’s capital contribution."
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Daley Thompson was sworn into office in 2015 as alderman of the city's 11th Ward, where the Daley family has lived for years.
"The tax charges accuse Thompson of falsely representing on five years of income taxes that he paid interest on money he received from Washington Federal, even though he knew he did not pay interest in the amounts reported on the returns," a statement about the indictment reads.
The indictment alleges that the first loan, for $110,000, was solicited and received by Daley Thompson in 2011 "in the form of a check payable to a law firm as defendant Thompson's capital contribution, in return for which defendant Thompson executed a note promising to repay these funds to Washington Federal, but did not provide security for his repayment of the funds."
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The indictment alleges Daley Thompson made one payment on the $110,000 loan but that Washington Federal did not require him to make any more payments.
The indictment alleges additional loans acquired and not repaid.
A statement on the indictment noted that Washington Federal was shut down after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency "determined it was insolvent and had at least $66 million in nonperforming loans."
"Ten other defendants, including several high-ranking former bank employees, were previously charged as part of the ongoing federal criminal investigation into the failure of Washington Federal," the statement read.
In a statement, Daley Thompson said he was "very disappointed by the Justice Department’s decision to return an indictment against me today for inadvertent tax preparation errors and my incorrect memory about the amount of a personal bank loan."
"I discovered the tax error and paid the small amount of taxes I owed," he wrote in the statement. "When the bank provided me the documents showing the actual amount of the loan, I promptly paid it back. Both matters were resolved before there was any government investigation."
Daley Thompson said he remains "100 percent dedicated to serving the people of Chicago to the best of my ability. I have complete confidence in our system of justice and look forward to showing that the accusation is false."
