From the Tribune: 
 
2 plead guilty in pension fund kickback scheme 
 
Tribune staff reports 
Published September 15, 2005
 A prominent Democratic Party fundraiser and a Chicago attorney pleaded guilty today in a scheme that extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from investment firms seeking to do business with the state teachers pension plan. 
 
 Both men also implicated other, unidentified individuals as having been complicit in the scheme. 
 
 Joseph Cari, 52, of Chicago, a former finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee, pleaded guilty to attempted extortion of an investment firm that sought to do business with the Illinois Teachers Retirement System. 
 
 Steven Loren, 50, of Highland Park, pleaded guilty to obstructing an Internal Revenue Service investigation of alleged corruption at the pension fund. 
 
 Cari's plea referred to "a high-ranking Illinois public official ("Public Official A") acting through two close associates" who "were going to pick law firms, investment banking firms and consultants that would help Public Official A." 
 
 Prosecutors today refused to comment if additional persons could be charged. 
 
 Cari and Loren entered their pleas in separate hearings this morning in the Chicago courtroom of U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve. 
 
 Cari could be sentenced to 37 to 46 months under advisory federal sentencing guidelines. But prosecutors have offered to recommend a lesser term if he cooperates with the government. Loren could be sentenced to 12 to 18 months but received a similar agreement. 
 
 The judge deferred the defendants' sentencing hearings and set a Dec. 8 status hearing in the case. Both men are free on bond. 
 
 In their pleas, Cari and Loren implicated Stuart Levine, the longtime Republican contributor and former trustee of the teachers pension fund, as allegedly having orchestrated the scheme. They are expected to testify at Levine's criminal trial. 
 
 Levine, 59, has been charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, soliciting a bribe and attempted extortion. 
 
 The charges came in an Aug. 3 indictment, just three months after Levine was charged with misusing his role as vice chairman of a state hospital oversight board to block hospital projects unless his friends in construction and finance got cut in on the action. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. 
 
 The latest indictment charged that Levine improperly steered $50 million in teacher retirement funds in August 2003 to one investment firm after its placement agent agreed to share two-thirds of his $375,000 finder's fee with a Levine associate who hadn't done any work. 
 
 On Levine's instructions, Loren prepared a sham consulting agreement to try to justify the fee, the charges alleged. 
 
 Levine also allegedly tried to extort a kickback of $850,000 from a Virginia firm, identified as JER Inc. from public records. But when the firm balked at paying the money, Levine attempted to pull the contract off the agenda for the teachers retirement board meeting. A staffer refused, however, and the $85 million investment won the backing of the board. 
 
 Cari allegedly acted as an intermediary for Levine, demanding JER enter into a sham consulting contract to disguise the kickback. "This is how things are done in Illinois," authorities quoted Cari as telling JER's attorneys. 
 
 The Teachers' Retirement System provides pension and disability benefits for teachers and administrators in Illinois public schools except for Chicago. It has about 325,000 members and assets in excess of $30 billion. 
 
Tribune staff reporter Matt O'Connor and the Associated Press contributed to this story.