$10,000 Buys A Job In Clerk Dorothy Brown's Office: Court Filing

CHICAGO — Former employees of Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown told federal investigators probing bribery in her office that it was commonly known you could get a job in her office by handing over cash payments to her personal bagman, according to court filings.

The "going rate" to buy a job in Brown's office was $10,000, one former staffer told investigators. Filings from federal prosecutors allege her employees believed that they could secure promotions by providing her with "financial benefits."

The federal probe into corruption allegations in the clerk's office has already been underway for close to five years, according to the Chicago Tribune. But the revelations from the feds' latest court filings suggest the FBI is still in the midst of "an ongoing and active criminal investigation," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Brown has not been charged with a crime, although one of her former top aides has pleaded not guilty to charges that she lied to federal investigators.

Financial records seem to corroborate the allegations of job-buying, the Tribune reported.

Transactions reportedly show the clerk's staffer named as the "bagman" paid $40,000 directly to Brown and a company she owned, most of which ended up in her campaign fund.

One of Brown's attorneys said she "wholeheartedly" denies the allegations and claims she "has engaged in absolutely no wrongdoing," according to the Sun-Times.

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