Beena Patel, Indian American, a onetime top aide to Chicago’s Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, has pleaded not guilty to the charges she had lied in two separate appearances before a federal grand jury about the pay-to-play allegations in the clerk’s office.
Patel, a former associate clerk who has supervised close to 500 employees, entered her plea in a brief hearing before the U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve.
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She was released on her own recognizance and ordered not to have any contact with the victims or witnesses in the indictment, including Brown, her chief of the staff and a clerk’s office employee who was allegedly promoted after her brother donated to Brown’s campaign.
Patel, 55, who has left the clerk’s office in August, was indicted last week on three counts of making false declarations before a grand jury. A conviction carries a maximum of five years in prison.
The indictment unsealed last week has shed new light on the direction of the ongoing federal probe into the alleged bribes involving hiring and promotions in Brown’s office. Among the issues under investigation is whether Patel and other employees have routinely helped to raise money for Brown’s campaign by hitting up co-workers for tickets to fundraisers. Patel has pressed Brown’s chief of staff to promote an employee whose brother had made hefty political donations to Brown, the indictment alleges.
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In her grand jury testimony in July 2016, Patel denied ever selling the tickets herself or knowing of other employees doing the same. She denied speaking to Brown’s chief of staff about the 2015 promotion of Individual.
Patel said that she didn’t recall telling the employee that Brown was going to call her about the raise and that she should “act surprised,” according to a transcript of her testimony.
Brown has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has not been charged. She has won a fifth term as clerk last year, even though the Cook County Democratic Party had dropped its endorsement of her after the federal investigation was disclosed.
By Premji
