Chicago Attorney Charged In Alleged Fraudulent Over-Billing Scheme

The Special Counsel for Development for the Village of Calumet Park, Illinois, has been charged in connection with an alleged fraudulent over-billing scheme that authorities say has cost the community over $1 million.

A shareholder of the international law firm Greenberg Traurig until he was terminated this past Friday, Mark J. McCombs has been charged with Theft of Government Funds in excess of $100,000 (a Class X Felony, punishable by imprisonment for 6 to 30 years) for allegedly using his position to defraud the Village of Calumet Park out of funds from its Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District and billing for work that he never performed.
 
Prosecutors alleged that McCombs was a special counsel to Village Calumet Park, and that in this position of trust, he was responsible for drafting as well as for filing all reports as required by state law.
 
In order to be paid for such services, McCombs was required to present an itemized bill to the village government for approval, and then he would receive a payment voucher to present to the bank holding the TIF’s accounts. Instead, it is alleged that McCombs circumvented this process, and obtained payment for services he never performed. Additionally, it is alleged that he also increased his fees up to $600 a hour without properly notifying the village and without filing TIF reports with the state as required by law.

According to prosecutors, the alleged scheme was discovered earlier this year when another governmental agency that shared TIF money with the village found discrepancies in a presentation McCombs had put together regarding the fiscal health of the fund. When contacted, McCombs allegedly offered to transfer TIF money to that agency in exchange for them dropping their inquiry. Calumet Park officials were contacted, and they obtained several years worth of records and allegedly uncovered that McCombs has billed the fund for $2 million dollars worth of work since 2007 without the completion of any economic development projects.