Prairie State Wire

State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) played a role in duping a friend into loaning $1 million to a home building business owned by two of his brothers, a federal bankruptcy judge determined in a ruling issued this week.

To political strategist Chris Robling, the ruling detailing Brady’s part in the 2010 loan “means that either Bill has no further role to play in Springfield, or that he is Springfield’s ideal example to the state. Perhaps both.”

“It would be honorable of Bill to resign from the public trust he now holds,” Robling also told Prairie State Wire. “But I’m not sure the honorable course is of interest here.”

In her ruling, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Gorman wrote that Dr. Thomas Pliura, a friend of Brady and his brothers Robert and Edward, was lied to in 2010 about collateral to back up the $1 million loan. At the time, Bill Brady was the GOP nominee for governor.

“Sen. Brady advised Dr. Pliura that he and his brothers were having financial difficulties and needed to borrow $1 million quickly,” Gorman wrote in her 22-page opinion. “Dr. Pliura was told by Sen. Brady that the money was needed to pay subcontractors who had done work for the Bradys’ construction company and were threatening to go to the newspapers about the lack of payment. Sen. Brady was concerned about the adverse publicity on his campaign.”

The Brady brothers put up four buildings in Normal as collateral for the loan. But Pliura and his wife were not told that a bank held mortgages against those properties that were greater than the value of the properties, the judge’s ruling said.  

Pliura testified “he saw all three of the Bradys review the final documents at the closing,” the ruling said. Pliura also said that all the brothers assured him that he was protected because of the collateral’s value.

“Based on those assurances, he proceeded with the loan, and the documents were signed,” Gorman wrote.

The judge, Robling said, “determined that Bill Brady lied for money to advance his political interests.”