Supreme Court overturns pair of Patrick Daley Thompson convictions

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, overturning two counts of lying to regulators.

Three years ago, Thompson, the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and grandson of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, was convicted on two counts of lying to regulators and five counts of felony tax fraud. 

The backstory:

Thompson’s conviction revolved around $219,000 he received between 2011 and 2014 from Washington Federal. The bank was shut down in December 2017 amid allegations of massive fraud, days after its president was found dead in a bank customer’s $1 million home.

The Supreme Court ruling only covers the two counts of lying. The justices agreed that a law banning false statements to regulators applies only to outright false statements and not to those that are misleading but not actually false.

What they're saying:

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the following in the Supreme Court's opinion:

"The statutory text criminalizes 'false statement[s]' but does not use the word 'misleading.' False and misleading are two different things. A misleading statement can be true, and a true statement is not false. Given that, it is significant that the statute uses only the word 'false,' which means ‘not true.’ Adding 'any' before ‘false statement’ does not transform the scope of the statute. A statute that applies to 'any false statement' does not cover all misleading statements, only the 'false' one."

Mobile users: Tap here to read the Supreme Court's decision

Attorney Chris Gair, who represents Thompson, issued this statement on the Supreme Court's ruling: 

"We are very gratified with the Court’s decision, which adopted our arguments and vindicated our position."