Former Chicago Alderman Ed Vrdolyak requests early prison release
CHICAGO - Former Chicago Alderman Ed Vrdolyak is asking to get out of prison early.
His attorneys filed an emergency petition Friday, saying his age and medical conditions put him at high-risk of death from COVID-19.
The motion asks that his sentence be reduced to time served.
Vrdolyak is serving 18 months in prison for tax evasion. He and an associate reaped millions of dollars from Illinois’ massive settlement with tobacco companies in the 1990s.
Prosecutors had previously said Vrdolyak "received in excess of $10 million in fees" from the tobacco settlement, the Sun-Times reported. They also once told a judge that Vrdolyak "has a guaranteed income stream of $260,000 per year … until 2023 from tobacco-related litigation."
The prison that Vrdolyak stays in is located in Rochester, Minnesota. It does have a medical facility, as the pandemic continues and the former alderman is now 84-years-old.