Obama Fundraiser Has Tie to Crime Figure

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign will benefit from a Wednesday night fundraiser hosted by an Illinois official whose family’s bank helped finance a Chicago crime figure.

Alexi Giannoulias, who became Illinois state treasurer last year, has pledged to raise $100,000 for the Democratic hopeful’s White House bid.

Giannoulias was his bank’s vice president and chief loan officer when the bank gave millions of dollars in loans to Michael “Jaws” Giorango, who was twice convicted of bookmaking and promoting prostitution, the New York Post reports.

Giannoulias was not charged with breaking any laws. But he is “so tainted by reputed mob links,” according to the Post, that several leading Illinois Democrats, including the state’s party chairman, refused to endorse him even after he won the Democratic nomination with Obama’s help.