A onetime top aide to former Ald. Carrie Austin is set to plead guilty next month in a corruption case that went public when the FBI raided Austin’s South Side ward offices more than six years ago.
Chester Wilson, 59, was indicted along with Austin in 2021 on charges of bribery and theft of government funds. He had been scheduled to go to trial in November. However, at a brief status hearing Monday, the parties informed U.S. District Judge John Kness that a plea agreement was being finalized in the case.
Kness canceled the trial date and set a change of plea hearing for Oct. 29, though it’s not clear which charges Wilson was planning to plead guilty to.
The development comes two months after Kness ruled that Austin, now 76, was medically unfit to stand trial. She represented the 34th Ward in the City Council for more than 30 years before stepping down in 2023. Wilson served as her longtime chief of staff.
According to the indictment, Austin and Wilson shepherded a new real estate development through City Hall bureaucracy beginning in 2016 and were given home improvement perks from a developer seeking to influence them.
Between them, Austin and Wilson allegedly got new kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, bathroom tiling, sump pumps and an HVAC system for free or at a discount.
The developer, Boris Nitchoff, has since died. His son, Alex, pleaded guilty to separate charges of bribing an employee of the Cook County assessor’s office and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Wilson was also charged in the indictment with illegally obtaining “SNAP” state food subsidies by paying the intended recipient less than the face value.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
