The following is a clipping from a much longer article that can be found at http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070504mole,1,5235800.story?track=rss. As a loan officer, I think it's great the government is out there, watching us, and making sure that the "snakes" are caught. They're watching out for the consumer and eliminating some of my competition. Which, in a way, is a reward to those of us who do things right.
Developer was mole for feds
Dealmaker led double life amid financing probe
By David Jackson
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 4, 2007, 11:37 PM CDT
John Thomas bought and sold downtown office buildings and helped other property developers secure multimillion-dollar mortgage loans.
But the high-living dealmaker had a double life.
Thomas, who was convicted of federal business fraud in New York in 2004, has been serving as an undercover government mole in Chicago for at least a year as part of an ongoing federal investigation into fraud in the financing of large-scale commercial real estate deals, the Tribune has learned.
But the high-living dealmaker had a double life.
Thomas, who was convicted of federal business fraud in New York in 2004, has been serving as an undercover government mole in Chicago for at least a year as part of an ongoing federal investigation into fraud in the financing of large-scale commercial real estate deals, the Tribune has learned.
Records made public so far do not identify the targets of the federal probe, and the FBI and U.S. attorney's office declined to comment for this article.
But the case could send ripples through Chicago's huge financial and real estate industries because Thomas' business clients and associates include several well-known commercial and residential developers.
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