Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson got secret deal from Bridgeport bank shut down for 'massive fraud'

Shortly after his election to the Chicago City Council in April 2015, Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th) bought a $340,000 summer home in Michigan with a secret loan from a small Bridgeport bank that federal regulators later shut down for “massive fraud,” the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

Washington Federal Bank for Savings never publicly recorded the loan, for which federal authorities have found that Thompson never made any payments on the principal or interest, according to sources familiar with an ongoing criminal investigation into the bank’s failure.

But the authorities found that the Bridgeport alderman still deducted thousands of dollars in interest payments that he owed — but never paid — the bank on the federal income-tax returns he and his wife filed with the Internal Revenue Service for several years, the sources say.

Thompson, who didn’t respond to attempts to reach him, has come under scrutiny as part of the federal investigation, the Sun-Times has reported. Sources say Thompson is among several bank customers under investigation for tax fraud regarding loans they received from Washington Federal Bank. They say authorities have been examining the loan for his summer home and his tax returns as part of their broader investigation into the collapse of the bank.

In an age when bank failures are rare, federal regulators shut down Washington Federal in December 2017. That was less than two weeks after John F. Gembara — its president, chief executive officer and major shareholder — was found hanged in the master bedroom of his bank customer and friend Marek Matczuk’s million-dollar Park Ridge home. Matczuk had five outstanding loans from Washington Federal totaling about $1.8 million.

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/2/19/22289922/patrick-daley-thompson-bridgeport-washington-federal-bank-savings-michigan-home-loan

Unfortunately, Thompson is a Democrat.