“Another member of the IL Democrat Crime Ring bites the dust,” the Illinois state Republican Party said after yet another Dem lawmaker was arrested by the feds. “In unsurprising news, Sen. Link is a member of the ‘Ethics Commission.’ Go figure,” the GOP added.
State Sen. Terry Link, D-Vernon Hills, was arrested by the feds on felony tax evasion charges. Link is tragically the fourth Democratic state lawmaker to face federal charges since 2019.
State Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, faces federal embezzlement charges, Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago, faces bribery charges and former state Sen. Martin Sandoval pleaded guilty to bribery and tax evasion.
Sandoval wore a wire and others have cooperated as the feds circle even bigger players in the notoriously corrupt state.
From WBEZ:
A long-serving Illinois state senator from the northern suburbs who sits on a state legislative ethics panel and was a poker-playing buddy of former President Barack Obama was charged by federal authorities Thursday with felony tax evasion.
The charge against state Sen. Terry Link, D-Vernon Hills, was spelled out in a federal document filed Thursday that offered little detail about the nature of the accusation against him.
Link’s name surfaced in the federal bribery case against former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago, who was accused last fall of offering to bribe an unidentified state senator $2,500 to help advance legislation legalizing sweepstakes gambling in Illinois. Arroyo pleaded not guilty.
WBEZ has confirmed that senator was Link, though the senator adamantly denied in an interview with WBEZ that he was a government mole.
It’s not clear whether that alleged bribery scheme has any relationship to the tax charge filed against Link on Thursday.
Earlier this year, Link amended his state financial disclosure statement for the 2016 calendar year by disclosing he had made at least $5,000 from the sale of a home in Fort Myers, FL. Federal tax rules dictate that federal taxes are due on any gains realized from the sale of a second home.
In their filing Thursday, federal authorities said that Link reported $264,450 on his 2016 federal tax returns, but his true earnings “substantially exceeded that amount.”
Link was first elected to the state Senate in 1996 and had served in former Senate President John Cullerton’s leadership team.
On Thursday evening, Link resigned from the Legislative Ethics Commission, according to a statement from Senate President Don Harmon’s spokesman.
"the third Democratic state senator to face felony charges in a little more than a year." // State Sen. Terry Link charged with federal income tax evasion https://t.co/Yi6M6rEISy
— Illinois Senate GOP (@ILSRCC) August 13, 2020
