Indicited millionaire fundraiser tapped to do plumbing work at Riverdale marina
By Casey Toner ctoner@southtownstar.com July 7, 2012 12:08AM
View of the boat slips at the Dixie Star Marina in Riverdale, Illinois, Monday, May 14, 2012. | Joseph P. Meier~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: August 9, 2012 6:04AM
When the Riverdale marina’s managing partner needed some on-site plumbing work done, he reached out to a multimillionaire Democratic fundraiser who is now trying to evict him from a skyscraper apartment for $17,000 in unpaid rent.
Records show that John Thomas, a convicted felon who wore a wire in the Tony Rezko case, purchased an $8,350 money order from the Dolton Currency Exchange for Raghu Nayak on Feb. 28, 2012. The money was for “additional sewer,” according to a handwritten note on the money order.
Nayak was arrested by the FBI at his Oak Brook home last month on charges he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to doctors so they would refer patients to his surgical centers. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was once heard on tape saying that Nayak, the alleged emissary of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, offered what Blagojevich believed was a $1.5 million offer in exchange for President Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate sat. Jackson has been on medical leave for three weeks due to “exhaustion” and an aide said Thursday the congressman has been facing physical and emotional issues that were “more serious” than first thought.
Thomas’ money order for Nayak and its accompanying invoice were submitted to Riverdale officials as proof that a steady investment was being put into the marina and that the marina’s company — Nosmo Kings — was eligible for $900,000 in taxpayer funds.
The village has hired a firm to audit the company’s books, saying that the taxpayer money is not properly accounted for, and Nayak filed an eviction lawsuit against Thomas in May. He claimed Thomas owed him $17,000 in monthly rent plus additional fees for living at a ritzy, 62nd floor Chicago apartment located at 60 E. Monroe St., Chicago. Three attempts to serve Thomas with the lawsuit at the building, which is across the street from Millennium Park, failed, according to court records.
Records show that Nosmo Kings submitted an invoice to go with Nayak’s check that is addressed to “Raghu Nayak Plumbing,” at 3125 S. Lockport Road, Lockport. The invoice shows that $8,350 is due to the company for a “50 percent contract payment upon completion of rough plumbing.”
There is also no record of a Raghu Nayak Plumbing as a registered corporation in Illinois and the billing address on Nayaak Plumbing invoice leads to an empty area between a junk yard and a boiler repair shop in Lockport.
Messages left for Thomas, the marina attorney and Nayak’s attorney were not returned.
“This is a sheer embarrassment for the community to be taken for a ride like this so blatantly,” Riverdale trustee Tanya Watkins said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous and somebody needs to be held accountable. Our community deserves better.”
