Feds say indicted Ald. Carrie Austin exaggerating health issues to avoid trial on corruption charges

Federal prosecutors on Friday said indicted Chicago Ald. Carrie Austin is exaggerating health issues to avoid going to trial on fraud charges, saying the FBI recently observed her going about political duties and running daily errands and that she hasn’t met even the “bare minimum” of proof she’s incapable of facing a jury.

Austin, 73, and her top aide, Chester Wilson, were indicted in June 2021 on charges they shepherded a new real estate development through the City Hall approval process beginning in 2016 and were given home improvement perks from a developer seeking to influence them. They have pleaded not guilty.

In a motion last month, Austin’s attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, asked that her case be severed from Wilson’s and that she be declared medically unfit for trial due to chronic and worsening heart failure, as well as a breathing condition “that makes her feel like she is drowning when she lays down, so she can only sleep in a recliner.”

In their 14-page response Friday, however, prosecutors wrote that Austin has failed to provide any believable evidence that standing trial would endanger her life, noting she’s worked through health issues for years and isn’t planning to retire until March.

“As she even insists, she will continue to work the demanding job of an alderman for the next several months until her ward disappears under newly drawn maps,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vikas Didwania and Thomas Peabody wrote. “She has continued to attend hours-long City Council meetings. She goes about town, including recently dining at a restaurant, spending hours at a salon, and attending a town hall meeting.”

In light of her claim to be medically unfit for trial, the FBI conducted “limited surveillance” of Austin in recent weeks, watching as went through the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant, got her hair done, visited a beauty store and “walked unassisted” in and out of an apparent doctor’s appointment.

The prosecutors also said that since her health issues aren’t expected to go away, granting Austin’s request would essentially “nullify” the indictment against her, which they said would be a “grave outcome” that denigrates the public’s right to a speedy resolution of criminal cases.

Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge John Kness to immediately set a trial date for both defendants.

Austin, who is among a recent string of sitting Chicago aldermen to face federal criminal charges, is charged with conspiring to use interstate facilities to promote bribery and other charges, Wilson, 56, of Chicago, was hit with bribery charges and one count of theft of government funds.

The central developer in the indictment, now deceased, was working on a 91-unit project in Austin’s Far South Side ward. According to the indictment, the developer provided improvements at Austin’s home and an investment property Wilson owns.

Between them, they received with new kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, bathroom tiling, sump pumps and an HVAC system for free or at a discount, according to the charges.

In his motion last month, Durkin wrote that the request to defer her trial was made “out of an abundance of concern that Ms. Austin simply will not make it through the stress of trial or the difficult pretrial preparation.”

“Neither this court, nor the government, should risk the loss of a life over these charges,” the motion stated. “Failing to resolve them may disappoint both parties, but such a failure will not cause the collapse of our Republic.”

Prosecutors responded that while that may be true, it is not a legal basis to escape standing trial, particularly in case that carries “serious democratic concerns.”

“Our representative system of government fundamentally depends on trust between elected officials and constituents,” Didwania and Peabody wrote. “Prosecution of public corruption helps to rebuild that trust and enhances self-governance; nullifying an otherwise valid indictment would do the opposite.”

Austin, who has served as the 34th Ward alderman for nearly 30 years, was herself appointed to the position by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley in July 1994, to fill the seat of her late husband, Lemuel Austin, who died suddenly from a heart attack at 48.

Her health problems came to the forefront last December when she collapsed in her seat during a City Council meeting and was wheeled out on a stretcher. After the meeting concluded, Lightfoot remarked that aldermen showed an “outpouring of humanity” for their colleague.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

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