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Health & Fitness

Marquardt Bros. - We've Got Your Back

Lobbyist for DuPage County State's Attorney's Office is Attorney & Brother of Forest Preserve's IT Covert Forensic Investigator

Originally posted on CountyLeaks


Scott Marquardt of the Wheaton-based law firm, Marquardt & Belmonte, P.C., represented JRM, Inc. in matters related with the company's secret "internal investigation" of the DuPage County Forest Preserve District's information technology (IT) department. JRM is an IT firm owned by Jerry Marquardt of Naperville, the attorney's brother. 

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Scott is also a lobbyist at a firm named after the founder and the late father of the brothers, Roger C. Marquardt & Co. This firm is paid $4,000 per month by the DuPage County State's Attorney's office for lobbying services. Scott's wife, Barbara Skurka/Marquardt, has been paid $48,000 as a consultant for Citizens for Bob Berlin, the political campaign for the State's Attorney.

Findings from JRM were given to the State's Attorney's office in 2011. A year later, the District's former director of its IT department, Mark McDonald, and the department manager, David Tepper, were each charged with 140 felony counts, while a third man, Arif Mahmood, who worked for Alamach Technology, Inc., an IT vendor for the District, was charged with 37 counts, in an alleged scheme stealing $150,000 from the Forest Preserve.

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Citizen watchdogs claim there are numerous political ties, conflicts of interest and a lack of legitimacy surrounding the internal investigation leading to the charges.

In a letter last month concerning Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests handled by the Forest Preserve's attorney, Jim Knippen of Wheaton, Marquardt stated that his firm represents JRM... 

For the rest of the story, go to CountyLeaks

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