Ex-U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds guilty on four misdemeanor tax counts

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Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds leaves the Dirksen Federal Building last September after being found guilty on tax charges. | James Foster/For the Sun-Times

The judge who heard Mel Reynolds’ latest criminal trial didn’t seem inclined to decide this week whether the former congressman was guilty of not filing his tax returns.

But that was before the feds finally revealed damning evidence in what has been the most dramatic misdemeanor case at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in years. It hinged on whether $433,000 Reynolds collected between 2009 and 2012 was actually income.

Then, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas used bank records Thursday afternoon to argue Reynolds had spent much of the money on tuition and purchases at Best Buy, Pea Pod, Foot Locker, Victoria’s Secret and elsewhere — even on “Hip Hop Abs.”

Thirty minutes after Jonas finished, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman took the bench and convicted Reynolds, 65, on four misdemeanor counts, rejecting Reynolds’ claim that he was given the money as reimbursement for business expenses and therefore didn’t need to file tax returns.

Earlier, the judge had suggested he might need days to reach a verdict. Instead Reynolds, a former rising-star congressman disgraced amid a series of scandals in the 1990s, suddenly faces up to four years in prison.

Immediately after his conviction, Reynolds told the judge he wants to go to Africa, saying simply, “I need to go home.”

The feds objected, but Gettleman put off the issue. Last year, Reynolds missed a judge’s deadline to return from a trip to South Africa and was arrested at the Atlanta airport when he returned to the United States.

Reynolds walked freely Thursday out of the federal courthouse, stopping briefly to tell reporters that, “I disagree with the judge finding me guilty of a misdemeanor.” He said he would file a motion for a new trial next week.

Later, he contacted the Sun-Times to complain about the lengths prosecutors went to convict him.

“I’m disappointed that the system treats you like garbage,” Reynolds said.

He also explained that he wants to go to Africa because “I can’t get a job here.” He said he would return for sentencing.

Reynolds represented himself during the four-day bench trial in Gettleman’s courtroom. He declined to take the stand and offered no evidence after prosecutors rested Wednesday. Instead, he used his closing argument Thursday to try to persuade Gettleman the feds didn’t prove their case.

That was before Jonas made his presentation. Afterward, Reynolds had no opportunity for rebuttal — prosecutors get the last word because they carry the burden of proof.

Reynolds was a Rhodes scholar who studied at Oxford and Harvard. He also had help at trial from a veteran stand-by attorney, Richard Kling. But the final blow by Jonas was among the most striking moments in a trial that revealed the danger of going it alone in federal court.

Another came during Reynolds’ closing argument. He tried to tell the judge he had traveled 400,000 miles while exploring business opportunities for two prominent Chicago businessmen in Africa. Jonas objected and said Reynolds had presented no evidence of such travel. The judge agreed.

“Perhaps if I testified there would have been evidence,” Reynolds quipped before moving on.

The bulk of the money at issue came from Willie Wilson, who once ran for mayor and president, and Elzie Higginbottom, a member of the investor group that recently purchased the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Reader.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Georgia Alexakis said Reynolds made $52,600 from Wilson and $371,000 from Higginbottom as he tried to arrange business deals for them involving medical supplies in Zimbabwe.

“It’s hard to believe that the defendant didn’t think he had to report one cent of it to the IRS,” Alexakis said.

Higginbottom testified that he agreed to pay Reynolds $10,000 a month, which Reynolds was supposed to use first to pay his expenses. Whatever remained was his compensation, Higginbottom said. Wilson simply called his payments to Reynolds a consulting fee.

Reynolds also made $15,000 consulting for a Zimbabwe advocacy group and $4,500 from a Chicago Heights church trying to raise money. The check Reynolds received from the church compensated Reynolds purely for his political connections, Alexakis said.

Reynolds was once considered a classic American success story — rising from a job as a cotton picker in the South to become a star on Capitol Hill. Now, Reynolds has acknowledged his business partners, including Higginbottom, have sought to hide their association with him.

Reynolds represented the 2nd Congressional District from 1993 to 1995, when he was convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker. While in jail, the feds hit him with campaign finance charges for improperly using his campaign fund. In 2001, former President Bill Clinton commuted his sentence.

Thirteen years later, Reynolds also got into hot water in Zimbabwe when he was arrested for allegedly possessing pornography, which is a crime there. He was deported to the United States after paying a fine for violating Zimbabwe’s immigration laws.

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