This guy never met anyone he didn't want to con

Con Man Developer who secretly recorded Mike Madigan for feds is charged

See Y. Wong faces a wire fraud count and appears on track to plead guilty.

By Jon Seidel  Mar 11, 2020, 3:44pm CDT

Federal prosecutors filed a long-anticipated criminal charge Wednesday against a man whose key role years ago in the public corruption investigation embroiling city and state politics helped lead to last year’s indictment of Ald. Edward M. Burke.

See Y. Wong made a secret 2014 audio and video recording for the feds of then-Ald. Danny Solis and House Speaker Michael Madigan, according to court records and sources. That recording became part
of the investigation that persuaded Solis to then secretly record Burke.

But Wong helped the feds only because he hoped a judge would one day go easy on him for a fraud that had yet to be identified — until Wednesday. That’s when federal prosecutors filed a seven-page charging document known as an information that accused Wong of wire fraud.

Wong is due for arraignment Tuesday. Though the filing of an information is typically a sign a defendant plans to plead guilty, it’s unclear if that will happen next week. Wong’s attorney, Daniel Hesler, did not return messages.

Wong’s alleged scam revolved around the Canal Crossing condominium development in Chinatown. Wong is accused of lying to buyers and to Cathay Bank. The bank loaned $13.7 million for the project to Emerald Homes, of which Wong was an owner. The feds say the scheme cost the bank $1.8 million and buyers of the condominiums $1 million.

Specifically, the feds pointed to a $170,100 wire transfer Wong made nearly 10 years ago, on May 18, 2010.

The case is a reminder of the early origins of a public corruption investigation that only became publicly known in November 2018, when the FBI raided Burke’s City Hall and ward offices more than a month before he was charged in a criminal complaint.

The Chicago Sun-Times first identified Wong and reported on his recording of Madigan and Solis in January 2019. The newspaper also revealed Solis’ cooperation that month. The details of Wong’s recording were contained in a bombshell 120-page federal court affidavit the Sun-Times first obtained. Citing the meeting with Wong, it alleged, “Solis has agreed to take action in his official capacity as an alderman for private benefits directed to Michael Madigan.”