Feds say businessman's $15,000 payments to the late Sen. Sandoval are now considered legal

 * I think this is the first local impact of the Snyder ruling.  Sun-Times...

Federal prosecutors say they do not oppose a suburban businessman’s appeal to overturn a 2021 conviction in which he admitted paying off the late state Sen. Martin Sandoval to help his business.

Vahooman “Shadow” Mirkhaef, who ran the Cub Terminal logistics depot in McCook, is using the U.S. Supreme Court’s Snyder ruling to argue that his payments to Sandoval in 2018 should be considered legal “gratuities” — and not illegal bribes — because they were given after Sandoval helped him.

Mirkhaef pleaded guilty in November 2021 to paying the rewards after Sandoval assisted in the sale of land owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation to Mirkhaef’s adjacent business. Mirkhaef was sentenced to two years of probation, which he completed early in August 2023.

The feds, in their written response Monday, said they do not oppose Mirkhaef’s motion to vacate the conviction for three reasons:

• Mirkhaef cooperated and “substantially assisted the government.”
• He faces legal consequences beyond the conviction, including being unable to run a business or travel to Canada, where some of his family lives.
• His $15,000 in payouts to Sandoval are all now considered legal under the Snyder ruling.

* Speaking of Sandoval, here's the Tribune...

Nearly seven years ago, two political insiders sitting in a City Hall office agreed: These days, you have to be careful how you talk.

Too many politicians are much too obvious about their corrupt intentions and self-dealing, said then-Ald. Danny Solis and Michael McClain, an ally of powerful Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. [...]

On the recording, in fact, McClain said the Department of Justice was planning to send 40 more prosecutors to Chicago. “They’ll wanna go after white collar crime,” McClain said.

And in a later conversation also played for the jury, McClain had even blunter words for Sandoval, then the powerful head of the Senate Transportation Committee known for playing fast and loose with the rules.

“Sandoval — that guy is a…He’s a piece of work,” McClain told Solis in a recorded phone call. “I mean, I’ve never wanted the guy on my side. I think he’s an indictment waiting to happen frankly.”

Also, during the veto session, yet another person asked me if I thought Sandoval was still alive and hiding out in Mexico.  It's wild how so many people believe this weird rumor.