Annazette Collins 'blatantly deceived' in tax case, sentenced to year in prison

Former state lawmaker Annazette Collins was sentenced Friday to a year in federal prison in a tax fraud case. The judge called it a “blatant” effort to avoid paying one’s fair share, followed by “veiled denial and shifting of blame.”

In denying a defense request for probation, U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso also noted that during his 12 years in the Illinois General Assembly, Collins had sponsored legislation to raise taxes on residents of Illinois.

“This is reprehensible because after seeking to increase the tax burden on the people of Illinois, she blatantly cheated and lied on her tax returns to avoid paying her fair share,” Alonso said in a statement. end of the hearing of more than three hours. .

Alonso said defense arguments that Collins was in over her head and trusted her accountants to file her returns accurately did not hold water, especially since she is a businesswoman self-taught and a seasoned politician who clearly knew better.

The judge also had harsh words to address her attorney's argument that she simply couldn't pay her taxes, noting that trial evidence showed she drove luxury cars, owned two homes and sent her daughter at an expensive summer camp at Sea World in California. .

“In this case, his offenses were motivated by greed,” Alonso said. “She doesn't want to hear it, but it's the truth. … Spending the money you owe does not equate to not being able to pay.

Wearing a floral-print blouse, Collins, 62, scribbled notes on a legal pad and took a deep breath when the sentence was announced, but showed no other visible reaction.

Moments earlier, Collins had made a brief statement in court thanking friends and family “who have supported me through this whole ordeal” but did not address her conviction or apologize. About three dozen relatives and other supporters watched from the courtroom gallery.

A federal jury convicted Collins in February of filing two false tax returns and failing to file a personal tax return and a return for his lobbying firm. She was acquitted of failing to file a corporate tax return in 2016 and also of filing a false tax return for herself in 2018.

In addition to the prison sentence, Collins was also ordered to pay $110,000 in restitution.

The charges against Collins, a longtime state representative before being appointed to fill a Senate vacancy in 2011, stem from the sprawling federal investigation into the former speaker of the House of Representatives. Illinois, Michael Madigan, and his once vaunted political operation.

When Collins was indicted in 2021, federal authorities were closing in on Madigan, accusing a series of former lawmakers and lobbyists of having ties to the then-powerful speaker and to ComEd, which was the company's largest client. Collins lobbying.

Collins' name has appeared in a number of recent corruption trials, including last year's “ComEd Four” trial, when she appeared on a so-called magic list of Madigan-approved lobbyists uncovered during of a raid on the home of Michael McClain, Madigan's longtime confidant. in upstate Quincy.

According to testimony at Collins' trial, from 2014 to 2018, ComEd paid him more than $200,000 for lobbying and consulting services. She was also paid thousands of dollars as a contract lobbyist by consulting firms run by staunch Madigan allies: Cullen Inc., run by Thomas Cullen, a former top Madigan official and longtime political strategist; and the Roosevelt Group, led by Democratic political activist Victor Reyes.

During the trial, prosecutors presented jurors with consulting contracts showing that AT&T paid Collins nearly $100,000 from 2015 to 2018. They were signed by Paul La Schiazza, then AT&T chairman of the Illinois, who is separately accused of trying to corruptly influence Madigan by hiring Collins' former colleague. , former state Rep. Edward Acevedo, as a consultant.

Testimony also showed that Collins received $11,000 for consulting services from Rekooh Management. Although the owner of this company has not been mentioned, records show that it is former ComEd executive John Hooker, who was convicted in the “ComEd Four” trial in connection with 'a scheme to corrupt Madigan.

The accusations against Collins, who represented Chicago's West Side as both a state representative and senator, focused largely on earnings from her successful lobbying and consulting firm, Kourtnie Nicole Corp. , which she created after leaving the legislature in 2013.

Between 2014 and 2018, Collins grossly underreported her lobbying income on her tax returns, including one year showing she earned less than $12,000 when her company actually had about $120,000 in gross receipts. , according to prosecutors.

In 2018, Collins asked his tax preparer to increase his business travel expenses to $25,000, when most of his travel expenses that year were actually for a personal vacation to Jamaica and in Mexico, according to testimony. The false report meant that the IRS actually sent Collins a check for more than $2,000, even though she paid no taxes to the system that year.

Collins also failed to file a personal return in 2016 and did not file any corporate tax returns for his business in 2015 or 2016, even though the business earned a six-figure figure each year, according to prosecutors.

In asking for a sentence of about two years in prison on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Parthum said Collins had a long “history of recidivism” when it came to trying to evade payment of taxes, including when the IRS first confronted her about underreported information. income from his job as an insurance broker ten years ago. Instead of admitting it, Parthum said, Collins decided to fudge the numbers.

“When the IRS caught her, she didn’t try to make things right, she tried to lie,” Parthum said.

Parthum also presented evidence Friday of a separate, unbilled fraud scheme in which Collins was caught filing false insurance policies for American Income Life Insurance customers who had not requested them or who did not exist, funneling more than $10,000 in advance commissions into bank accounts. belonging to relatives.

The judge received emails in which an AIL insurance investigator said he confronted Collins about the discrepancies and “accused her of being a thief and got no response from her” . The investigator said she answered all questions with “I don't know” and refused to provide a statement in response to the allegations.

Collins was fired “for cause” from the company in 2014.

Collins' attorney, Shay Allen, argued for probation, saying that Collins was an honest person and devoted to her family and friends, but that she was wrong about taxes, which he described as “a confusing and fuzzy area of ​​our lives”.

Allen pushed back on the idea that Collins lived a lavish lifestyle, saying most of it was paid for with credit cards.

“It’s not a lavish lifestyle, it’s the lifestyle of someone who’s underwater,” Allen said. “It’s not the lifestyle of someone who has a lot of money in their closet, it’s the lifestyle of someone who’s struggling to get by.”

Collins was ordered to report to jail on September 9.

She is part of a growing list of former members of the Illinois General Assembly who have been sentenced to federal prison terms in the past five years, including former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton, former state Reps. Luis Arroyo and Acevedo, the former state Rep. who, like Collins, was convicted of tax charges stemming from the Madigan investigation.

Another former state senator, Terry Link, was recently sentenced to probation. Criminal charges are still pending against Madigan as well as current Senator Emil Jones III.

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