Nora Schweihs of Mob Wives Chicago, Tries to Move On

Nora Schweihs is looking beyond all the screaming, name calling and hair pulling that has characterized the first few episodes of "Mob Wives Chicago." But mostly, she's trying to get past the past.

Schweihs, the daughter of Frank "The German" Schweihs, said she's on the show to get closure following the 2008 death of her father, whose body was recently exhumed at the request of his family. As soon as a blood test confirms the body is her father, Schweihs plans to bring his ashes to Florida, where she lived with him, but place some of his remains in a necklace she has made.

Schweihs said she is also honoring him by creating a pinot noir called "The German," which she hopes will bring positive spin to the nickname given to her father, an alleged mob enforcer. In a one-on-one interview with RedEye, she dismissed the murder charges against her father as "hearsay."

"Now you won't ever hear 'The German' as 'Oh, he was a hitman,'" she told RedEye outside the Bebe store in Water Tower Place.

Schweihs is very defensive of her father, who has become a hot-button issue on "Mob Wives Chicago," which began airing last month on VH1. The show features Schweihs and four other local women with ties to the "Chicago Outfit" who bicker about whose father did what and who is the least classy.

Schweihs is often in the middle of the drama, which she calls 100 percent real. In one recent episode, she becomes upset when another cast member shows up late to a memorial for her father. The confrontation turns violent.

"It is our life and it really is real," said Schweihs, wearing a sheer purple top and white jeans. "For me, the whole point of the show is for my father and nothing else and I am thisclose to getting closure."

Part of the premise of the show is Schweihs' return to Chicago after living in Florida with her father, who she calls her best friend. Schweihs, 49, said she now lives in Bridgeport and recently celebrated finishing her business master's degree at Robert Morris University.

She said she was taking multiple courses when she was filming "Mob Wives Chicago," which added to her stress level. Some of friendships she had going into the show have been strained, but she said she has gotten closer to fellow castmates Christina Scoleri and Leah Desimone.

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Brendolyn Hart-Glover Charged with Scheming to Falsify Documents for State Review of Federally Funded Jobs Program

The former acting director of a Cook County job-training program was arrested today on federal charges for allegedly engaging in a scheme to falsify documents related to a state review of the county’s 2009 Summer Youth Program, which was funded by a federal grant. The defendant, Brendolyn Hart-Glover, was field operations manager and, during 2010, served as acting director of the Cook County President’s Office of Employment Training, or POET, which last year was renamed Cook County Works. POET received federal grants through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), which allocated approximately $5.67 million to POET for summer youth jobs in 2009 and 2010, with POET enrolling approximately 1,400 participants in the 2009 program.

Hart-Glover, 42, of Chicago, who supervised POET’s field offices in Oak Forest, Cicero, Maywood, and Chicago Heights, was charged with engaging in a scheme to falsify documents in a criminal complaint that was unsealed today following her arrest. She was scheduled to appear at 4 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert in Federal Court.

According to the complaint, in October 2009, DCEO sent POET a letter identifying problems with hundreds of participant files, including approximately 70 files that were missing entirely. In July 2010, DCEO informed POET that it would not reimburse approximately $1.4 million in questioned costs based on the documentation that POET had produced to that point, and DCEO gave POET another month to provide additional documentation.

According to several cooperating witnesses, including POET employees at the time, Hart-Glover instructed them to “reproduce” or “recreate” the files that were needed to maintain the funding. “Let me make something clear. It is not an option for you to not have the Summer Youth files,” she allegedly told a small group of employees in the summer of 2010. In August 2010, Hart-Glover wrote a letter that POET sent to DCEO along with two boxes containing allegedly recreated files and documents. The letter stated that 56 six of the approximately 70 missing files were located and submitted.

However, the charges allege that POET employees did not “locate” the files that POET produced to DCEO and, instead, POET employees recreated those files by forging, altering, and backdating documents. Also, contrary to statements in the letter, POET staff did not verify an applicant’s compliance with the Selective Service Act or check an applicant’s low-income status at the intake site because POET employees did not have access to computers at those locations, the complaint states.

In March 2011, federal agents interviewed Hart-Glover. The complaint alleges that she denied knowing the following: that POET employees falsified documents provided to the state agency; that some birth certificates were missing from the summer youth files; that birth certificates were being recreated by POET employees; and that anyone fabricated the public aid printouts so that the print date appeared to be the date of the application.

The arrest and charge were announced by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; James Vanderberg, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in Chicago; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Thomas P. Brady, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago. The Cook County Inspector General and the current administration of Cook County Works cooperated with the investigation.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Deis.

Making false statements carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

A complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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If It’s Too Good To Be True, It Might be a Ponzi Scheme

If a respected member of your community offered you an investment opportunity, you might consider it. Especially if it’s a man of the cloth.

For nearly a decade, Martin Sigillito—a bishop in the American Anglican Convocation and a St. Louis attorney—convinced 200-plus people to do more than just consider it: they actually entrusted him with their money to invest in a financial venture. But this venture turned out to be an old-fashioned Ponzi scheme, and in April of this year, Sigillito was convicted of leading a conspiracy that swindled $52 million from victim investors.

How the scam began. In late 2000, Sigillito opened a law office but didn’t actually practice law—instead, he advertised his “international business consulting services.” One of the “services” he offered was participation in the British Lending Program (BLP), transformed by Sigillito into a Ponzi scheme. Through the BLP, investors could “loan” money to a real estate developer in the United Kingdom for short periods of time, mostly one year, at high rates of return—between 10 and 48 percent.

This real estate developer, according to Sigillito, had a knack for spotting undervalued properties he could flip for a profit, had options on land that would become valuable when re-zoned, and had inside connections with British authorities. It sounded like a win-win for investors.

Unfortunately, this British developer was not the wunderkind Sigillito made him out to be—he was just another link in the criminal conspiracy.

How did Sigillito convince his investors to part with their money? He exploited his personal ties to people and particular groups he was affiliated with—like his church, social clubs, professional acquaintances, family, and neighbors—in a technique known as affinity fraud. He also held himself up as an expert in international law and finance and claimed he was a lecturer at Oxford University in England (when in reality he had simply taken part in a summer legal program at Oxford).

Sigillito, who also conspired with another American attorney, insisted that his investors’ funds initially be placed into his trust account, from which he would take exorbitant fees for himself and his co-conspirators. Even though he told investors he would then transmit the money to the U.K., Sigillito actually kept most of the funds in one or more American bank accounts he controlled.

For a while, the scam was self-sustaining: Many investors let their interest payments accrue and rolled their loans over every year, plus Sigillito brought in enough new investors to make interest and principal payments to any previous investor who asked for payment. And all the while, he made enough in “fees” to support his affluent lifestyle: exclusive club memberships, expensive vacations, a country home, a chauffeur, private school for his kids, and collections of rare and antique books, maps, prints, coins, jewelry, and liquor.

How the scam ended. Eventually, an increasing number of investors meant increasing payout requirements, which resulted in the BLP making late interest payments or missing interest payments all together. Then investors began clamoring to withdraw their funds. And finally, Sigillito’s own assistant became suspicious of his activities and contacted the FBI.

The takeaway from this case? Fully investigate any investment opportunity before handing over your hard-earned money.

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