Sen. Barack Obama announced Saturday that he would donate to charity $40,350 in past political contributions, after his identity surfaced in a public corruption case headed to trial.
The case and the contributions involve Antoin Rezko, one of Obama's earliest patrons. Rezko, 52, is scheduled to go on trial next month on federal charges alleging he joined a scheme to force investment firms seeking business from Illinois state pension funds to pay kickbacks.
There is no suggestion that Obama knew the source of the donation, and he faces no allegations of wrongdoing.
Obama is referred to, albeit not by name, in a single paragraph in a 78-page court document as a "political candidate" for whom Rezko raised money. A source familiar with the case confirmed that Obama is the unnamed politician.
According to the document, Rezko used a business associate to funnel $10,000 to Obama's U.S. Senate campaign in March 2004 -- money that came from an alleged $112,000 kickback intended to benefit the Chicago businessman.
But the government's reference to the political candidate amounts to the first time Obama's identity is hinted at in the case against Rezko. It raises the prospect Obama's name will surface in Rezko's trial, an unwanted distraction as the first-term senator from Illinois seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.
In a hearing last week, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said she anticipated the trial, set to open Feb. 25, would last three to four months. Federal prosecutors said they expected to call 23 witnesses. Rezko's attorney, Joseph Duffy, said Rezko was innocent and intended to fight all charges.
The indictment alleges that Rezko and his co-conspirators -- some of whom are expected to testify against him -- aspired to receive millions in kickbacks from the pension funds and ended up receiving hundreds of thousands.
The main witness against Rezko is expected to be Stuart Levine, a longtime member of the board that oversees the Illinois public school teachers pension fund. Rezko, who had also been a major fundraiser for Democratic Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, helped persuade Blagojevich to reappoint Levine, a Republican, to the Teachers' Retirement System board.
Seeking to quell questions about the Rezko case, Obama's aides announced the candidate would return the $40,350 from seven Chicago-area individuals who appear to be linked to Rezko. That pushes to $85,185 the amount that Obama will donate of the Rezko-related contributions between 1995 and Obama's 2004 Senate race.
