Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a past fundraiser for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was released from federal prison to a Chicago halfway house Tuesday after being sentenced in 2012.
Rezko was convicted in 2008 on 16 counts of fraud, bribery and money laundering crimes. Prosecutors said he extorted millions of dollars from those hoping to do business with the State of Illinois and was responsible for much of the wrongdoing in the Blagojevich administration.
In January 2012, Rezko was sentenced to 126 months, or 10.5 years, in prison. At that time, he had already served more than three years of his sentence.
The Illinois fundraiser served time in solitary confinement at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center and was later moved to a county jail in Wisconsin.
Besides connections to former Blagojevich, Rezko worked as a fundraiser for President Barack Obama prior to his election to the White House. He did not have any involvement with Obama's presidential campaign, however.
Rezko also volunteered to be a witness to Blagojevich and power broker William Cellini trials, but he was never called upon.
