A former Rezmar consultant reinforced the prosecution’s allegation that Patti Blagojevich did next to nothing for Tony Rezko’s firm, despite being put on a $12,000-a-month retainer.
Michael Winter, a real estate investor, worked as a consultant for the company from 2003-2005. Prior to that, he was a banker, where his expertise was in financing real estate transactions. He originally met Rezko in that capacity, and ended up financing several Rezko projects.
Winter testified that Rezko tried to justify the payments to Patti Blagojevich by asking the consultant to find her roles in various Rezmar dealings.
“I thought it was a bad idea,” Winter said.
Patti Blagojevich didn’t have an office at Rezmar, Winter said, even though there was plenty of space. Winter recalled that the ex-governor’s wife would come into the office only about twice a month, most often with one of her daughters. She met “almost exclusively” with Rezko on those occasions and usually stayed for only 15 minutes, Winter said.
Prior to Winter’s testimony, former Rezmar CFO Robert Williams said a $40,000 check Rezmar gave to Patti Blagojevich coincided with the Blagojevich’s spending $40,000 for renovations on their Chicago home.