CALUMET PARK (STMW) — A longtime municipal attorney is alleged to have stolen at least $1 million – and perhaps as much as $3 million – from the village of Calumet Park, where he grew up, according to prosecutors and others familiar with the matter.
Mark J. McCombs, of Chicago, worked for nine years as the village’s special counsel for development and is accused of a fraudulent billing scheme meant to bolster his position at the Chicago law firm where he worked until Friday.
Village records show McCombs billed the village for tens of thousands of dollars each month for work that apparently never was done. He helped himself to property tax revenue that flowed into accounts of Calumet Park’s tax increment financing districts.
“The billing was a joke. He didn’t do any work,” said Burt Odelson, the village attorney.
Cook County prosecutors Friday charged McCombs, 50, of the 1300 block of Flournoy Street, with one felony count of theft of government funds in excess of $100,000. McCombs, who faces six to 30 years in prison if convicted, pleaded innocent. Bail was set at $25,000.
McCombs was an attorney and shareholder with Greenberg Traurig, a global law firm that employs nearly 1,800 attorneys and has offices in the United States, Asia and Europe. He’s accused of billing the village at least $1 million for work he never performed, but a village official pegged the number at closer to $3 million.
McCombs wired the cash to his law firm in a scheme designed to boost his reputation as a moneymaker and to give him greater visibility and a higher pay rate at the firm, Assistant State’s Attorney John Mahoney said in court.
Greenberg Traurig fired McCombs on Friday afternoon after learning of the charges and had no previous knowledge of his alleged misdeeds, according to Jill Perry, managing director of the firm.
“The firm is fully cooperating with the investigation and has reported these charges to the (Illinois) Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission,” Perry said. “We’ve spoken with Calumet Park officials and assured them any fees not properly billed to the village will be promptly reimbursed.”
Representatives from the firm are scheduled to meet with Calumet Park officials Tuesday to work out a solution, she said.
A woman who answered the phone Friday at McCombs’ home said he was not available to comment.
He resigned from his Calumet Park job about two weeks ago when officials demanded a full accounting of TIF money, Odelson said. He said McCombs left about 25 boxes of files in which he kept copies of line-item bills that village trustees never had seen.
Mayor Joseph DuPar released a statement Friday, saying the village was “shocked” to learn of the alleged theft and that McCombs had “exploited our trust in him.”
McCombs was childhood friends with many of the village officials he’s accused of betraying. Over the years, he’s worked for other area communities, including Oak Forest and Sauk Village.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.