A federal judge on Wednesday cleared the way for Betty Loren Maltese's one-story, three bedroom home to be seized and auctioned off.
Loren-Maltese, the former president of the Town of Cicero, was convicted and sentenced to eight years in federal prison for her role in a scheme that defrauded the municipality of more than $12 Million.
She ultimately served six years of her sentence.
Federal authorities claimed her four homes, her 1993 Cadillac and a Jeep Grand Cherokee in an effort to cover some of the $8.3 million that Maltese owed as restitution, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
U.S. District Judge John F. Grady previously ruled that the federal government could seize and auction off Loren-Maltese's Cicero home in December 2009, according to court filings. Grady then postponed the auction in September after Loren-Maltese's attorneys filed a motion to have her conviction overturned and asked to stay the sale of the home.
Last month, though, Grady upheld the conviction. On Wednesday, he officially lifted the hold on the auction.
Loren-Maltese is now on supervised release and currently lives in a halfway house in Chicago. She is paying $8 million in restitution through monthly payments.
Her attorney, Leonard C. Goodman, told the Chicago Tribune that they are appealing Grady's decision upholding the conviction.
