Cook County Judge Convicted Of Mortgage Fraud By Federal Jury

CHICAGO — An elected Cook County Circuit Court judge was convicted of two counts of fraud in federal court Thursday in connection with her involvement in a $1.4 mortgage fraud scheme. A jury agreed with the feds that the sitting jurist had lied repeatedly on mortgage and refinancing applications for two South Side investment properties, used a straw buyer and pocketed $325,000.

Judge Jessica Arong O'Brien, 50, of Chicago, was found guilty of one count of bank fraud and one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution. O'Brien has been on administrative leave since her indictment last year. She previously presided over a small-claims courtroom.

Elected in 2012, O'Brien was the first Filapina judge elected in the county, the first Asian elected as president of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois and is the wife of Cook County Judge Brendan O'Brien. She immigrated to the U.S. after high school and studied restaurant management before getting involved – and now entangled – with the law, according to online biographies.

The mortgage fraud scheme for which she was found guilty took place before she became a judge.

At the time, she was working as a special assistant attorney general for the department of revenue, was chief counsel to the Illinois Lottery, owned her own real estate company and also worked part time as a loan originator for Linconwood-based Amronbanc Mortgage, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Feds argued she inflated her income "like a hot air balloon" between 2004 and 2007, lying in order to buy and sell the two properties in the 600 block of West 46th and 800 block of West 54th, the Chicago Sun-Times reported,

O'Brien's co-defendant, an employee at the Lincolnwood company, pleaded guilty last month to a single count of mail fraud.

The judge's lawyer, Ricardo Meza, argued the misstatements were honest "good faith" errors and O'Brien was being targeted because of her job as a judge, which brings with it a nearly $200,000 salary.

Meza declined to comment about the verdict or the next step for his client, who is still a judge.

State law says people convicted of a felony "shall be ineligible to hold an office created by the Constitution of this State until the completion of his sentence."

The Illinois Courts Commission, made up of one supreme court justice, four other judges and two citizens has the authority to remove judges from office. The Illinois Attorney Review Disciplinary Commission could suspend her law license, which would also preclude her from serving as a judge, although it has no record of any pending proceedings against her.

Each of the two fraud counts carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

Judge Thomas Durkin set Judge O'Brien's sentencing hearing for July 6.

» More: Cook County Judge Faces Trial On Federal Fraud Charges