Vallas sues consultant who allegedly defrauded campaign out of $680,000
Chimaobi Enyia, hired to get out the vote in Black communities, is accused of being paid for work he refused to give an accounting of or return the money when confronted by mayoral candidate Paul Vallas.
By Tom Schuba and Fran Spielman 
Former mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, pictured at a March 3 news conference, sued a consultant for allegedly bilking his campaign out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Former mayoral candidate Paul Vallas filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing a consultant of defrauding his campaign out of hundreds of thousands of dollars that he allegedly falsely claimed was spent on get-out-the-vote efforts in Black communities which the former public schools chief ultimately lost.
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges that Chimaobi Enyia told the campaign that he had effectively been given a “blank check” for $700,000 to do campaign work in those communities ahead of the mayoral runoff on April. Enyia was allegedly unable to account for $680,000 he received over a series of payments, and the Vallas campaign is now pushing to recoup all the money Enyia was paid.
The first sign that something was amiss came when Vallas’ campaign filed its latest financial disclosure Monday showing that $480,000 of the $500,000 in payments to Enyia’s company, Ikoro LLC, were being “disputed.” Another contested payment for $200,000 came on April 3, after that reporting period had ended, according to the suit.
In a statement, Vallas said he was “disappointed in the outcome of a hard-fought campaign” but didn’t address the damning allegations directly.
“During an independent review of the Vallas for Mayor raise and spend, and as we prepared to file our report with the [Illinois] State Board of Elections, we flagged a pattern of payments to a vendor which are now in dispute,” he said.
In a text message to the Sun-Times, Enyia denied the allegations and said his attorney would provide a more detailed statement next week.
He is the brother of Amara Enyia, who ran her own failed campaign for mayor in 2019 with backing from Chancelor Bennett, better known as Chance the Rapper.
A series of allegedly fraudulent payments
As the former executive director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, Chimaobi Enyia claimed he had crucial connections within the African American community and would “get Vallas access to Black churches, organizations and individuals who would be willing to do campaign work,” according to the suit.
Consultant Chimaobi Enyia allegedly bilked mayoral candidate Paul Vallas’ campaign out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
After traveling with Vallas to the South and West sides in early March and introducing the candidate to faith leaders, congregations and community organizations, Enyia approached Vallas about working as a campaign consultant or strategist, the lawsuit states.
Enyia then requested that Vallas’ campaign manager, Brian Towne, pay him $40,000 a month for work in March and April, according to the suit. Vallas felt that amount was “excessive” but agreed to spend half that over the same period, leaving Towne to cut the first $20,000 check on March 20.
Towne and veteran campaign consultant Joe Trippi acknowledged Vallas’ path to victory relied, in part, on Vallas’ ability to win at least 30% of the Black vote and minimize Black turnout. Though Vallas received endorsements from veteran Black alderpersons, that goal was ultimately far out of reach.
Amid the push for Black votes, Enyia “devised a plan” to submit invoices and earn more campaign money for “fabricated” consulting work he was never contracted for, the suit states.
In four payments between March 20 and April 3, Enyia allegedly collected $680,000 that he claimed was for consulting, putting up Vallas signs in Black neighborhoods and removing others that were vandalized and tied the candidate to former President Donald Trump.
Enyia repeatedly pressured a campaign worker named Peter Jeon to cut the checks, going as far as warning that the purported campaign workers he was paying were going to jump ship and start working for Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, according to the suit. While Towne isn’t accused of any wrongdoing, the suit says he directed Jeon to make the payments.
Vallas discovered the first contested payment on April 10 as he was reviewing his campaign finances, according to the lawsuit.
During a phone conversation, Vallas allegedly pressured Enyia to show how that first $200,000 was spent and to return the money. Enyia, in turn, “became irate,” insisted “that there were no receipts” and refused to turn over the money. He also failed to mention the other payments, the suit states.
But the following day, Vallas found the other invoices and confronted Enyia again. That’s when Enyia allegedly told him that $200,000 had been spent to contract workers to put up campaign signs in Black neighborhoods.
I think this story is indicative of certain character traits held by the candidate. I mean WTF. Defrauded? Good luck in court with that. Murph
