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  Millionaire campaign donor, 2 others indicted in health planning probe
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Last EditedNone Entered  May 15, 2005 04:07am
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News DateTuesday, May 10, 2005 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionA federal investigation into the powerful Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board that has led to fraud and extortion charges against a millionaire campaign contributor and two wealthy associates is far from over, officials say.

"This investigation has only just begun," Robert D. Grant, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago office, said Monday. "Stay tuned. There will be more charges in the future."

Stuart Levine, 59, a millionaire attorney and businessman who has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Illinois political campaigns over the last decade, was charged in a 28-count indictment Monday with mail fraud, wire fraud, extortion and misallocation of funds.

Also charged were construction executive Jacob Kiferbaum, 52, and P. Nicholas Hurtgen, 42, the former managing director of the Bear Stearns & Co. investment firm's Chicago office and a onetime aide to Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Levine hatched a plot to pressure Naperville-based Edward Hospital into choosing one of his friends for $113 million in construction work and engineered a series of financial maneuvers in which millions of dollars were siphoned out of other such projects, according to the indictment.

The indictment said Levine's position as a member of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board provided the leverage to pressure hospitals.

The state board wields huge power over medical construction projects in Illinois. Failure to obtain one of its "certificates of need" is likely to scuttle such a project for lack of funds.
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