More Top Picks Cuisinart 4 Slice Classic Cpt 180
player ready...Former Cosmopolitan National Bank Chairman James E. Wells allegedly paid an arsonist at least $7,000 to torch a warehouse that he owned, and two associates of the banker have cooperated in an ongoing federal investigation of the arson, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The new allegations came at a court hearing seeking the release of Wells, being held without bond on a federal bank fraud charge.
On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Rebecca Pallmeyer ruled that Wells was a flight risk and should not be released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center. The ruling was similar to a November ruling by a Florida magistrate after Wells` arrest there on the bank fraud charge.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven Miller and David Glockner contended that Wells is the target of a wide-ranging investigation before a federal grand jury that is expected to return indictments next month.
The grand jury investigation includes the spectacular August 1980 fire at a warehouse at 3615 S. Iron St., reputed to be the second- or third-largest fire in Chicago history.
Court records show a land trust involving Wells and a business partner had bought the land in November 1979 for about $16,000 and leased it to a firm that included Wells and others. Insurance companies settled two of four claims on the building and its contents for at least $825,000.
FBI Special Agent Anthony D`Angelo said he had gotten statements from one of Wells` former business partners about the fire and an earlier blaze that destroyed truck trailers parked at the site.
According to D`Angelo, Wells had told his business partner to assemble the trailers at the site and told his partner that they would ”sell them back to the insurance company.”
The partner also told authorities that Wells refused to spend any money to fix the aging warehouse, opting instead to use the company`s profits to increase the amount of insurance coverage for the building.
D`Angelo said an employee made a statement to authorities in which the employee said he was told by the arsonists that Wells had paid $7,000 for the fire. In addition, Wells told the employee that Wells paid the arsonist for the fire, D`Angelo said.
Wells` attorney James Marcus argued the federal investigation of the fire wasn`t relevant. ”The government is asking you to hang my client in 1992 with events that occurred in 1979,” he said.
Marcus argued Wells was not a flight risk, and five longtime friends of Wells testified Tuesday, saying Wells` reputation in the community was excellent.