Lawyers for an indicted lobbyist friend of former Gov. George Ryan accused federal prosecutors Thursday of abusing the grand jury process by “setting a perjury trap” for their client and asked that his indictment be dismissed.
The filing on behalf of former state Sen. Arthur “Ron” Swanson contended that prosecutors, dissatisfied that he had not initially incriminated Ryan in wrongdoing, hauled Swanson back before the grand jury five more times and questioned him for hours at a time.
The defense alleged that in its indictment of Swanson, the government had improperly taken testimony out of context “to create the impression of falsity.”
The defense filing also maintained that Swanson, 77, suffers a number of diseases that “may have impaired his thinking and memory.”
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on the filing. Prosecutors will respond in writing later in court.
Wednesday’s racketeering indictment of Ryan alleged that the former secretary of state helped steer lobbying work to Swanson and that in return, Swanson provided cash and gifts on multiple occasions to Ryan.
Swanson, a former key member of Ryan’s “kitchen cabinet” of advisers, was indicted in August on federal perjury charges, accused of lying to a grand jury about Ryan’s assistance.
Prosecutors have alleged that Ryan privately tipped Swanson that he had selected Grayville for a state prison site, enabling Swanson to land a $50,000 lobbying fee to represent the town in competition for the maximum-security prison even though the decision had been made.
Thursday’s filing by Swanson’s lawyers, James Streicker and Theodore Poulos, said that Swanson and Ryan, identified only as “Official A,” met more than 30 years ago and “formed a close personal friendship,” regularly socializing and vacationing together.
Swanson served as a state senator from 1963 to 1971 and as a senior assistant to then-Gov. Richard Ogilvie from 1971 to early 1973, when he became a lobbyist.
In the filing, Swanson’s lawyers said the government hasn’t alleged that Swanson lied during his first grand jury appearance, Oct. 16, 2001.
The defense filing alleged that prosecutors “planted the seeds” to entrap Swanson in perjury by calling him before the grand jury a second time on May 14, 2002, after another Ryan confidant, Donald Udstuen, had secretly tape-recorded a conversation with Swanson about two weeks earlier.
Udstuen, accused of pocketing kickbacks, agreed to cooperate with authorities and pleaded guilty to a tax charge.
The indictment against Swanson accuses him of lying to the grand jury about a $4,000 payment he gave to Udstuen in the men’s room of a Chicago restaurant as compensation for steering a lobbying job for Wisconsin Energy Corp. to Swanson. A short time later, Udstuen returned the money to Swanson, according to Thursday’s defense filing.
The defense alleged that prosecutors set the so-called perjury trap by calling Swanson to testify about a conversation that the government knew word for word because of the secret recording.
“It is obvious that their only goal was to get Mr. Swanson to say something inconsistent with the tape,” the filing said.
Though he didn’t know of the recording, Swanson had candidly answered questions, his lawyers contended. They said he admitted he referred Wisconsin Energy to Udstuen, gave Udstuen a referral fee of $4,000 and Udstuen later returned the money. The defense filing also alleged that a complete transcript of Swanson’s testimony on July 23, 2003, reveals he ultimately told the grand jury he was unable to accurately recall the sequence of events regarding the Grayville prison issue.
A partial transcript of Udstuen’s undercover recording, included in the defense filing, shows that at one point Udstuen questioned whether Ryan knew anything about the matter (Wisconsin Energy).
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“Oh good Lord, no. I don’t tell him anything,” the defense filing quoted Swanson as replying.
The defense alleged that prosecutors “hauled” Swanson back to the grand jury four more times, “cajoling” him into providing testimony as part of “their overzealous effort to generate perjury charges.”
Four of the seven counts of perjury come from Swanson’s last grand jury appearance on July 23, 2003, according to his lawyers. The filing contended that Swanson did his best to provide truthful testimony but conceded he made some “mistakes” and forgot certain events when first questioned about them.
According to the filing, Swanson also denied giving any part of $30,000 that he withdrew in 2001 to Ryan.
“But I’m telling you no again,” the filing quoted Swanson as saying. “I never gave [Ryan] a nickel, a dime, a quarter, a thousand dollars, a million dollars, no.”
“Significantly, however, the government has not charged Mr. Swanson with perjury based on that testimony,” the defense filing said.