Developer convicted along with Ed Burke receives 32 months in prison

The developer was named along with former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke on Friday to more than 2 ½ years in prison – a sentence that goes beyond the two-year prison sentence Burke was given almost two months ago.

US District Judge Virginia Kendall said in her verdict on Charles Cui’s 32-month prison sentence that Burke had received a lesser sentence for “important reasons” – including his age and public service. At the same time, she pointed to Cui's obstruction of the investigation that led to Burke's conviction, including lying to the FBI.

Cui's dealings with Chicago's most powerful and longest-serving city council member put him in the middle of one of the city's biggest corruption cases in years. The jury that convicted Burke in December also found Cui guilty of bribery and lying to the FBI.

But Cui played a central role in only one of Burke's plots – the one involving a Binny's Beverage Depot on Irving Park Road.

The judge sentenced Burke to two years in prison in June. Prosecutors have since asked for a sentence of about four years for Cui, arguing that mitigating circumstances that affected Burke's sentence – including his age – should not affect Cui's sentence. Burke is 80 and Cui is 53.

Federal authorities had originally called for a ten-year prison sentence for Burke.

Cui's company had set out to develop commercial properties in Irving Park and signed a contract with the city government in 2016, records show. The city agreed to provide up to $2 million in tax increment funding for the project under certain conditions.

Binny's has also rented premises there from Cui's company and expects that it will have a 30-foot-tall metal sign at the corner of Irving Park and Lamon Avenue. However, the city denied a request to use it. Without this arrangement, Binny's would have been entitled to a rent reduction of $183,607 over 15 years or $612,025 over 50 years, prosecutors say.

Cui reached out to Burke, even though the property was not in Burke's district. He contacted Burke by email and voicemail, telling him he needed help with a legal matter. When Burke did not respond, Cui emailed Burke and offered his business to Burke's private tax firm.

Cui also sent an email to his former tax appeals attorney explaining why he had to hand the business over to Burke.

“Can I ask you a favor?” Cui wrote. “Can Edward Burke take over the property tax appeal for 4901 W. Irving Park for me, at least for this year? I have a TIF deal going on with the city and he is the chair of the finance committee. … He is an influential broker at City Hall and I need him now. I will turn the case back over to you after this year.”

Cui then instructed the lawyer to appeal against other properties in the suburbs.

While trying to save his deal with Binny's, Cui also sent a doctored image of the sign to City Hall — making it look like it was in use. A city official who was also a longtime resident of the neighborhood called it a fake.

Then, on November 29, 2018, Cui lied to FBI agents who interviewed him in his office. It was the same day agents raided Burke's office and alerted the public to their investigation. Prosecutors say Cui told his lies “with a cold heart.”

Cui denied in that interview that he had offered work to Burke's law firm around the time he asked for help with the sign.

“I offered Mr. Burke a deal some time ago,” Cui told the agents. “Simply because he is a good tax litigation lawyer.”

Cui's defense attorney Susan Pavlow argued that Burke's firm never made any money on the Cui deal. Cui himself lost his entire investment and a lender is suing him for $13 million.

“His license to practice law will be suspended and he will face dismissal from the bar,” Pavlov wrote in a recent court memo.