Name: Former state Sen. Annazette Collins indicted on federal tax charges stemming from her lobbying income
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Former state Sen. Annazette Collins indicted on federal tax charges stemming from her lobbying income

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AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneMar 31, 2021 at 4:29 pmFormer Illinois state Sen. Annazette Collins was indicted Wednesday on federal charges alleging she underreported income and failed to file federal income tax returns for her lobbying and consulting firm.Collins, 58, of Chicago, was charged in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury with willfully filing a false individual income tax return, and failing to file corporate and individual income tax returns between 2014 and 2016.AdvertisementAn arraignment was set for Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso. The indictment was the latest brought in connection with the ongoing federal corruption probe into an alleged bribery scheme by Commonwealth Edison to influence then-House Speaker Michael Madigan.AdvertisementCollins, a Chicago Democrat who left the legislature in 2013, was after retiring from public office, though the indictment does not specifically mention her work for the utility giant.Collins’ attorney, Shay Allen, called the charges a blatant attempt to squeeze his client and get her to cooperate in the ComEd case, even though she “knows nothing whatsoever” of that alleged scheme. Allen said she intended to fight the charges, which he characterized as minor. “She’s not some multi-millionaire hiding money from the government,” Allen told the Tribune on Thursday. Last month, former state Rep. Edward Acevedo and his two sons as part of the same grand jury inquiry. Acevedo and his sons all have pleaded not guilty.According to the charges filed Wednesday, Collins willfully failed to file a corporate income tax return for the calendar years 2015 and 2016 on behalf of her consulting and lobbying business, Chicago-based Kourtnie Nicole Corp.The indictment also alleged Collins reported on her tax returns that her personal income in 2014 was just $11,500 and in 2015 it was $10,154, when she “knew that the total income substantially exceeded that amount.”The charges carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison.Collins was a longtime state representative before being appointed to fill a vacancy in the Senate in 2011. She left the legislature after losing the March 2012 primary.AdvertisementHer legislative career was also dogged by controversy. In 2012, she was one of several lawmakers whose legislative scholarship awards were under review by a federal grand jury.Collins chose to give one of the coveted free rides to a University of Illinois at Chicago student who moved to the city from Texas for school, the Tribune reported.She also faced allegations that she distributed the scholarships benefit to students living outside of her district — one of the few requirements of the now-defunct program.No criminal charges were ever filed as a result of that investigation.Records show Collins registered as a contract lobbyist for ComEd in 2014, a year after she left office. Her last year registered for the utility was in 2019, when began to surface.For her 13 years of service in the House and Senate, Collins has received a state legislative pension of just over $39,000 a year since she started collecting when she turned 55, almost four years ago, according to the retirement system. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneMar 31, 2021 at 4:29 pmFormer Illinois state Sen. Annazette Collins was indicted Wednesday on federal charges alleging she underreported income and failed to file federal income tax returns for her lobbying and consulting firm.Collins, 58, of Chicago, was charged in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury with willfully filing a false individual income tax return, and failing to file corporate and individual income tax returns between 2014 and 2016.AdvertisementAn arraignment was set for Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso. The...

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The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the 6th highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017.

Former state Sen. Annazette Collins indicted on federal tax charges stemming from her lobbying income

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