U.S. Supreme Court to hear appeal of Patrick Daley Thompson, heir to Chicago political dynasty
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday it will hear an appeal from convicted former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, signaling more close scrutiny of federal prosecutions in Chicago and across the country.
A jury found Thompson guilty in February 2022 of two counts of lying to regulators and five counts of filing false income tax returns. U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama sentenced the heir to the Daley political dynasty to four months in prison.
Now his lawyers will get to argue in the Supreme Court whether the statute used to convict him of lying "prohibits making a statement that is misleading but not false."
Thompson has already served his prison sentence. And the high court's deliberations are not expected to completely undo his conviction, regardless of how things play out. However, 2025 could now be the second year in a row that the justices hear arguments about how the feds pursue local politicians in high-profile cases.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court limited their use of a bribery law that's crucial in the upcoming trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. It did so while hearing an appeal in the corruption case of a former Portage, Indiana, mayor.
Thompson is the grandson of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley and the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley. His uncle, William Daley, served as chief of staff to President Barack Obama.
The case against Thompson revolved around $219,000 he received between 2011 and 2014 from Washington Federal Bank for Savings in Bridgeport. Thompson received a $110,000 loan from the bank in November 2011. He then received an additional $20,000 in March 2013 and $89,000 in January 2014.
The bank was shut down in December 2017 amid allegations of massive fraud, days after its president was found dead in a bank customer's $1 million home.
Thompson paid no interest on the loan, according to the feds. But he falsely claimed deductions for mortgage interest purportedly paid to the bank on his tax returns for the years 2013 through 2017. He was also convicted for lying in early 2018 as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sought to recover the money he borrowed.
The FDIC hired Planet Home Lending to collect on Thompson's loans, records show. It sent him an invoice in February 2018 stating his balance was $269,120 — the principal of $219,000 plus interest.
Thompson called the customer service line and said, "I borrowed $100,000. ... I mean, I borrowed the money, I owe the money — but I borrowed $100 thou—$110—I think it was $110,000. ... I want to quickly resolve all this, and — and — you know, what I owe."
Thompson read the amount on the invoice and said, "I dispute that."
When he was convicted, the jury found that Thompson falsely stated that he "only owed $110,000," records show.
"Patrick Thompson was convicted ... for stating that he borrowed $110,000 and that he disputed owing $269,000," lawyers Chris Gair and Stuart Banner told the Supreme Court. "These statements were not false. He did borrow $110,000 and he did dispute owing $269,000."
