Former Gore Campaign Finance Chief Avoids Jail Time After Guilty Plea to Attempted Extortion

Joseph Cari Jr.

Bloomberg - Joseph Cari, the finance chief for Al Gore’s 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, was sentenced to three years’ probation for his role in a political corruption scheme that led to the convictions of ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his fundraiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko. U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve imposed the sentence, which includes nine months’ home confinement and a $50,000 fine, during a hearing today at the federal courthouse in Chicago. “I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Cari said, adding he’ll “live with shame and pain for the rest of my life.” Cari in 2005 pleaded guilty to a single count of attempted extortion. Testifying against Rezko in 2008, he told a jury he’d aided a plot to demand a $750,000 kickback from a private equity firm, JER Partners, which sought $80 million in investment capital from the Illinois Teachers Retirement System. Cari, a lawyer and then-director at Healthpoint Capital Partners in New York, admitted to making threatening phone calls to the McLean, Virginia-based firm. Read full story here: News New Mexico