Another guilty former Chicago City Council member is expected to learn his fate Thursday when he is sentenced by a federal judge on corruption charges.
Ricardo Munoz pleaded guilty in September to wire fraud and money laundering, admitting he took nearly $38,000 from the Chicago Progressive Reform Caucus to pay for personal expenses like skydiving and a relative’s college tuition.
The admission by Munoz, who represented the 22nd Ward, made him the latest in a long line of City Council members convicted of federal crimes. Patrick Daley Thompson was convicted by a federal jury just last month, costing him his seat on the council, where he represented the 11th Ward.
Meanwhile, Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) and Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) remain on the council despite being charged in still-pending federal indictments.
Munoz defense attorney Richard Kling argued for a light sentence earlier this year, noting Chicago’s federal courts “see governor after governor, legislator after legislator, alderman after alderman, county board member after board member, continuing to engage in the same behavior,” suggesting that sending Munoz to prison won’t deter the next corrupt politician.
That prompted federal prosecutors, who asked for a one-year prison sentence for Munoz, to respond that “public officials … need to know that when they break the law, they will be held accountable.”
They quoted the words of U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman during the 2014 sentencing of former Cook County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno. During that hearing, Feinerman said the way to “affect the cost-benefit analysis” is “to impose more severe penalties.”
Moreno got 11 years in prison.
Munoz announced his retirement from the City Council in 2018. Before he pleaded guilty last year, he told the judge he considers himself to be “retired” rather than unemployed.
He originally faced 15 wire fraud counts and one money laundering count in the indictment filed against him in April 2021. It accused him of trying to cover his tracks by repaying the money he took from the reform caucus or by claiming it was for “consulting” or “Election Day expenses.”
Munoz’s plea agreement alleges he took $37,891 from the caucus, including $16,000 he transferred in October 2016 to a joint account he held with a family member. He then used $15,254 from the joint account to pay tuition to an out-of-state university.
Munoz later obtained a federal Parent Plus loan and then paid $16,000 back to the caucus.
He also bought jewelry from Louis Vuitton, women’s clothing from Nordstrom, three Apple iPhones and Chicago Bulls tickets with money from the caucus, according to the plea agreement.
Munoz made $10,560 in cash withdrawals from the progressive caucus account in November and December 2018, including while he was on vacation in New York in late November 2018, it said.
Federal authorities famously raided Burke’s City Hall and ward offices Nov. 29, 2018, a move that first revealed the feds’ public corruption investigations, which are still ongoing.
But between November 2018 and February 2019, Munoz used the progressive caucus debit card to spend a total of $1,400 on a Southwest Airlines ticket from Los Angeles to Chicago for an acquaintance, Los Angeles Kings hockey tickets, a stay at the Los Angeles Crowne Plaza hotel, and at Lover’s Lane in West Dundee.
In March 2019, the plea agreement said, a contractor asked Munoz for the progressive caucus’ account balance so it could be reported at a meeting. Munoz told the contractor in an Apple iMessage the account had $11,000 in it.
It really had $94.79, according to the plea agreement.
