JEFFERSON PARK — The FBI was allowed to trace calls to and from an embattled alderman under investigation in 2021, court documents reveal.
Federal authorities got permission to tap the phone of Northwest Side Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th), who was under federal investigation for alleged bribery, according to documents that were filed in federal court in 2021 but not made public until this past March.
Authorities wanted to install the phone tracing device to see whether the alderman was still communicating with the developer who allegedly gave him a cash bribe, delaying a major Six Corners development in 2019, according to the FBI’s application for a court order allowing the phone tap.
Authorities also wanted to see how others connected to the case communicated with each other after the FBI began approaching them for interviews, the application states.
“This information will assist the investigation in several ways, including by alerting the FBI as to whether certain interview subjects have been made aware of the allegations prior to the attempted interviews, as well as whether [redacted name], and others may be attempting to coordinate efforts to cover up the alleged bribery conspiracy,” authorities wrote in the application.
Parts of the records from 2021 are redacted, including the names of many of the individuals involved, but the readable portions include details and facts that make it clear the subject of the phone trace is Gardiner.
Gardiner has not been charged in the case. The court records do not indicate whether the investigation is still active or why several documents were recently unsealed to be accessible to the public.
But the wire tap documents indicate the investigation was still active in August 2021. That’s the latest date revealed to this point in public records.
Gardiner did not reply to requests for comment but his staff has previously declined to comment on the investigation.
Spokespeople for the FBI also declined to comment.
The application for the wire tap order from Department of Justice attorneys was dated Aug. 17, 2021. Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, the chief federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois, granted the order, although the date was left blank on the copy available to the public.
The judge’s order authorized the phone tap for 60 days, and it was set to be installed by AT&T, Gardiner’s cell phone carrier, the order states. The trace device was going to allow the FBI to see who the alderman called, who called him, and other electronic communication, but did not allow authorities to listen to conversations, according to the judge’s order.
The court documents do not indicate whether the wire tap was installed after it was approved or, if it was, what came of the results.
The documents were unsealed on March 1, a day after the first round of elections that put Gardiner in a runoff with challenger Megan Mathias, an attorney from Old Irving Park. He later won the runoff with about 55 percent of the vote.
The FBI moved to tap Gardiner’s phone after the agency encountered technological problems that hindered its efforts to view about 4,000 text messages from the alderman between February 2019 and July 2020, 59 of them between him and the developer, according to other redacted FBI affidavits. The affidavits show authorities spent a year struggling to view those text messages, the Sun-Times reported.
The FBI was investigating allegations that Gardiner received money from the developer before he took office in May 2019.
They did find evidence that the alderman gave a floor ticket to the same developer to attend the inauguration that month of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Gardiner and the rest of the City Council. FBI investigators took that as a sign that Gardiner felt “indebted” to that developer, according to court documents released last month.
In 2020, the FBI also requested access to the developer’s iPhone after being unable to read encrypted text messages, according to the court documents. The documents do not say whether that was successful.
Last week, a staffer for Gardiner told Block Club the alderman is moving his office into a bigger space. The landlord said he raised the rent for the current office space, in a Jefferson Park storefront, due to increasing property taxes.
The FBI investigation is one of several controversies that have dogged the alderman since he took office in 2019.
Gardiner has also faced criticism and multiple lawsuits after allegations he withheld ward services from critics, used foul language to describe women and other potential misconduct. In addition to the FBI, the Chicago Board of Ethics, and the city’s Office of the Inspector General have launched investigations into Gardiner’s conduct.
Gardiner has tried to take the focus off his legal troubles and scandals, instead touting his accomplishments in his first term. He’s said he’s brought more businesses and development to the ward, including the overhaul of the former Sears at Six Corners, The Clarendale and the Northwestern medicine project in Old Irving Park, which is set to be completed before the end of the year.
“The 45th Ward is thriving due to the collaborative efforts of community stakeholders in the last three years,” Gardiner said in a statement over the winter. “In fact, we are witnessing $475 million of new developments, $14 million of infrastructure improvements while creating hundreds of union and permanent jobs.”