Tony Rezko was Obama’s friend and fundraiser.  He was convicted on 16 of 24 federal corruption charges.

• In 1995, Rezko companies donated a total of $2,000 to Obama’s state Senate campaign. Obama was elected in 1996 -- representing a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income projects.
  
  

• Rezko's low-income housing empire began crumbling in 2001, when his company stopped making mortgage payments on the old nursing home that had been converted into apartments. The state foreclosed on the building -- which was in Obama's Illinois Senate district.
  
  

• 2003, Rezko, a member of Obama campaign finance committee, held a lavish Obama fund-raiser
  
  

• Federal prosecutors maintain that $10,000 from the alleged kickback scheme was donated to Obama's run for the U.S. Senate.  (Obama has given the money to charity.)
  
  

• Shortly after Obama’s senator confirmation, he and Rezko's wife bought adjacent lots in Chicago. Obama bought the mansion for $1.65 million ($300,000 below asking) while Rezko's wife paid full price ($625,000) for the adjacent vacant lot. Six months later (with Tony Rezko under federal investigation), Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a portion of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. 
  
  

Did Obama save $300,000 on the asking price of his house because Rezko's wife paid full price for the adjoining lot? How did Mrs. Rezko make a $125,000 down payment and obtain a $500,000 mortgage when financial records shown at the Rezko trial indicate she had a salary of only $37,000 and assets of $35,000? Records show her husband also had few assets at the time.