The Office of the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois has indicted a former director for the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) and the owner of a Chicago construction company on charges that they ran a multi-million-dollar kickback scheme.
The indictment accuses Ryan Ross, formerly a director in the CHA’s Property and Asset Management Department, of receiving more than $421,000 in kickbacks in 2023 and 2024 from Vanessa Rhodes, president of Bell’s Better Buildings Inc., which conducted business as Twenty Eleven Construction Inc. In exchange for the kickbacks, Ross used office to fraudulently award construction, renovation, and other work to Twenty Eleven Construction and another company affiliated with Rhodes.
Rhodes’ companies pocketed more than $4.8 million in construction and renovation work at CHA properties through this scheme, which also had Rhodes’s husband falsely represent himself to CHA property managers as an employee of the affiliated company who would purportedly complete the work on CHA units.
Ross and Rhodes concealed the fraud scheme, including Ross’ financial interest in the CHA work he awarded to Twenty Eleven Construction and the affiliated company, by submitting false documents to the CHA, including proposals, scopes of work, and invoices, the indictment states. Ross spent some of the kickback money to purchase a vehicle for himself and pay for repairs and renovations on his home, the indictment states.
The indictment charges Ross and Rhodes with eight counts of honest services fraud, each of which is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. Arraignments in federal court in Chicago have not yet been scheduled.
“Corruption in the awarding of public housing contracts undermines trust, distorts competition, and diverts already scarce resources,” said US Attorney Andrew S. Boutros. “Holding individuals accountable when they exploit their positions for personal gain is essential to protecting the integrity of our public institutions, ensuring that taxpayer funds are properly safeguarded, and making sure that everyday people in need of public housing assistance get the support they are entitled to under the programs. I urge anyone with knowledge of misconduct in the procurement of public contracts to report it to law enforcement; your vigilance is critical to protecting the fairness and transparency our taxpayers and everyday citizens deserve.”
Photo: Ryan Ross, via LinkedIn
0 Comments