First lady's real estate success probed

CHICAGO, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Illinois first lady Patricia Blagojevich's lucrative career as a real estate agent ended amid a federal corruption probe, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday.

The newspaper said Blagojevich's commissions plummeted after federal investigators began looking into whether clients hired her to curry favor with the administration of her husband, Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Her home-based River Realty's most famous client was Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who is now in prison on a corruption conviction. The Blagojeviches refuse to say how much her company made from Rezko.

The newspaper says its investigation found the real estate company earned more than $700,000 in commissions after her husband began raising money in 2000 for his first run for governor. Of the commissions, the newspaper found that more than three-quarters came from clients with connections.

Lucio Guerrero, a spokesman for the governor, said Patricia Blagojevich was hired on her merits and it would be a "disservice" to suggest otherwise.

She now works as a fundraiser for the Chicago Christian Industrial League, which is a job the newspaper said she landed after a political ally of her husband's talked to the director of the non-profit homeless agency.