U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk quickly pounced on more news Friday of multimillion dollar loans to organized crime figures from the family bank of Alexi Giannoulias, as the Democratic candidate's past continues to dog his political ambitions.
The Highland Park Republican claimed Giannoulias has "misled Illinois voters" about his role at Chicago's Broadway Bank and the institution's loans to reputed mobsters.
Giannoulias has said he wishes the bank would have done background checks on the men before making the loans. He has also sought to distance himself from those loans. At the time, Giannoulias was a senior loan officer at the bank, before he ran for state treasurer in 2006.
The latest revelations came in a Chicago Tribune report Friday detailing loans totaling more than $20 million and tied to properties across the country.
The bank is now trying to recoup much of the money from Michael Giorango and Demitri Stavropoulos as it teeters on the brink of collapse, according to the reports.
The lending came at a time both men were set to serve prison sentences. Stavropoulos had a two-year sentence for running a bookmaking ring across several states, according to reports, and Giorango served six months intermittent confinement for promoting a nationwide prostitution scheme.
Broadway Bank's loans to Giorango and Stavropoulos have been publicly known for years, frequently confronting Giannoulias on the campaign trail. But the details behind them have not previously been revealed.
Broadway Bank loans to Tony Rezko, an insider of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration convicted of influence peddling, as well as the institution's solvency have also been political issues for Giannoulias. But he has overcome some of these problems before, albeit in races that drew far less attention - his campaign for treasurer in 2006 and the latest Senate primary.
