Riverdale Mayor Lawrence Jackson charged with lying about secret funding for his trucking firm from clout-heavy waste company
A federal indictment made public Thursday accused Riverdale Mayor Lawrence Jackson of accepting secret funding for his trucking business from a clout-heavy waste hauling firm and then lying about it in a civil deposition.
The indictment filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court on Thursday charged Jackson, 49, with perjury and obstruction of justice. An arraignment was scheduled for Tuesday at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.
Calls to the mayor’s office were referred to an attorney for the village who was not immediately available. Jackson’s criminal defense attorneys, Gabrielle Sansonetti and Nancy DePodesta, said the mayor intends to plead not guilty.
The indictment comes more than a year and a half after the FBI raided Jackson’s small brick bungalow in the 14500 block of South Union Avenue that he shares with his wife.
According to the indictment, Jackson and his wife formed a trucking company, Centennial Holdings, in March 2018 despite knowing nothing about the business and putting up no capital.
The company was actually run by James and Kelly Bracken, who owned a Riverdale Materials LLC, which had been granted village approval to open a waste recycling and hauling facility in Riverdale.
The indictment alleged the Brackens funded virtually every aspect of Centennial Holdings, providing Jackson with a loan to get the company going as well as ongoing operating costs, from trucks and fuel to insurance, repairs and licensing. The loan was never fully repaid, according to the indictment.
The payments were “for the benefit of Jackson and his wife, who “had no experience in or knowledge of the trucking business,” the indictment alleged. Bracken hid them by paying third-party operators who deducted a fee and passed the money to Centennial, according to the charges.
Jackson was not charged with anything directly related to those payments. Instead, the perjury and obstruction charges stem from sworn statements he made in a federal lawsuit filed against Riverdale Materials in 2018 by Tri-State Disposal, which operates a similar facility on South Ashland Avenue and for years had contracts for garbage hauling in Riverdale.
In 2017, Tri-State opposed Riverdale Materials’ business application to the Village Board, arguing the company was not abiding by strict environmental requirements and was hiding illegal waste dumping on its property.
According to the lawsuit, Jackson stacked the deck in favor of Riverdale Materials, including firing the chair of the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals and loading it with “persons politically connected to the mayor.”
After the board approved the application for Riverdale Materials, Jackson had a sign with his photo posted at the company’s site stating “ANOTHER BUSINESS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HONORABLE MAYOR LAWRENCE JACKSON,” according to the suit, which included an image of the sign.
“Despite strong opposition from the plaintiff and the public, this matter was politically rigged from the beginning in favor of Riverdale Materials and to the detriment of the people of the village of Riverdale, and their health, safety, welfare and environment,” the lawsuit alleged.
In addition to the zoning board allegations, the lawsuit also accused the village of breach of contract after Riverdale announced in March 2018 that it would not be renewing Tri-State’s contract for garbage pickup.
The next month, Jackson sent Tri-State a letter on official Riverdale letterhead accusing the company of a “hostile and harassing style of communication,” including “telephone calls on my personal cellphone that I deemed to be inappropriate and offensive,” according to a copy of the letter filed in court records.
“I am requesting that Tri-State Disposal cease all communication by telephone,” Jackson’s letter read. “Going forth, all communication must be in writing. This policy will ensure a respectable means of communication until we are able to sever and end our contractual obligations.”
According to the federal indictment, around the same time Bracken was helping Jackson start up Centennial Holdings, he was also paid $18,000 by the mayor to perform a “spring cleanup” in the village, even though Tri-State was already under contract to do so.
The charges alleged Jackson then lied multiple times about his dealings with Bracken during a sworn deposition on Feb. 25, 2021. During the deposition, Jackson also “exchanged text messages” with Bracken about the topics being covered, the indictment alleged.
When Jackson was asked specifically whether Centennial Holdings had done any business with the Bracken family, Jackson replied, “There is a possibility, sir, but I’m not certain because I don’t handle the day-to-day operations of the business,” the indictment alleged.
Jackson was then asked who does handle it. “That would be my wife,” he allegedly replied, “and also wherever we are dispatched to work at.”
Jackson was also untruthful when he said his “accountant” handles the leasing of the trucks, that his wife took care of Centennial’s books and records, and denied having anything to do with the awarding of the spring cleanup to Bracken’s firm, the indictment alleged.
“Jackson’s answers to questions during the deposition were designed and intended to conceal both (Bracken’s) extensive involvement in the operations of Centennial, (Bracken’s) relationship with Jackson, and Jackson’s and (Bracken’s) replacement of Tri-State ... to perform the 2018 spring cleanup,” the indictment stated.
An attorney representing Riverdale and the mayor in the lawsuit, John Wise, said in a previous statement to the Tribune that the allegations in the lawsuit were “baseless.”
The lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year, and Tri-State has filed an appeal which is pending before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, court records show.
State campaign records show companies affiliated with James and Kelly Bracken donated more than $30,000 to Jackson’s campaign fund from 2016 to 2021, including an $8,177 in-kind contribution supporting Jackson’s 2019 golf outing at George Dunne National golf club in Oak Forest.
The donations were made through three Markham-based companies owned by the Brackens: Brackenbox Inc., KLF Excavating and Utility Transport Services, Inc. All three of those companies were named in the subpoena sent to Riverdale.
The indictment of Jackson, meanwhile, is the latest federal criminal case involving Riverdale, which has a population of about 13,000 and has long been beset by budget woes and allegations of corruption.
First elected mayor in 2013, Jackson is serving his third straight term after besting rival and former Riverdale Mayor Deyon Dean in the 2021 primary.
In 2014, Chicago real estate developer and ex-government mole John Thomas was sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $375,000 in taxpayer funds earmarked for a development along the Little Calumet River in Riverdale. He admitted using the cash to pay off personal debts and other expenses.
Jackson told the Tribune in an interview at the time that even though Thomas was ordered to pay back the embezzled money, Riverdale would continue to feel the repercussions of his fraud for years.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but unfortunately the village of Riverdale will never be made whole because of the deceptive, fraudulent practices of Mr. Thomas,” Jackson said then.
In his last bid for reelection, Jackson told the Daily Southtown he had a record of cost savings, improved efficiency and greater accountability.
“When I came into office in 2013, this village was saddled in lawsuits and investigations,” Jackson said. “We couldn’t pay our bills. I’ve been able to stabilize government. We renegotiated contracts, restructured debt and got Riverdale on a path to solvency.”
Jackson, who previously worked as a Cook County corrections officer, is paid a $69,900 annual salary, plus health benefits and an automobile allowance, according to the village code.
