Paul Vallas suing consultant for defrauding $700,000 intended for Chicago campaign services
Rachel Schilke
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Former Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas has sued a political consultant for allegedly defrauding his campaign of hundreds of thousands of dollars “for services they did not perform.”
Vallas is suing Chimaobi Enyia, who allegedly told the campaign he was given a “blank check” for $700,000 to spend on get-the-vote-out efforts in black communities — areas that the former Chicago Public Schools CEO ultimately lost during the runoff election on April 4 to Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.
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Enyia was allegedly unable to account for $680,000 he received in a series of payments, and Vallas’s campaign is seeking to receive all the money back, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Vallas accused the consultant of unjust enrichment, fraud, “in the alternative, breach of contract.”
The lawsuit also accused Enyia of using the close runoff election to garner hundreds of thousands of dollars from Vallas’s campaign to build support in black communities, place pro-Vallas signage in the areas, and remove anti-Vallas signage. However, the campaign’s latest financial disclosure from April 17 indicated that $480,000 of the $500,000 given to Enyia’s company, Ikoro LLC, was being disputed.
“This suit is someone taking advantage of a campaign in the heat of, days before an election, for services that were not rendered at the time he promised or allegedly promised,” Steven Laduzinsky, Vallas’s attorney, said of Enyia to the Chicago Tribune. “He duped him, he misrepresented all these services were provided. We’ll see where the money went, that’s how these cases pan out.”
Another contested payment for $200,000 came on April 3, after the reporting period had ended, according to a Chicago Tribune financial analysis. Expenditures from April 1 to June 30 are not available until July.
Enyia allegedly claimed in January that he had “many connections in Chicago’s Black communities that were supportive of Vallas” and Enyia’s professional experience gave him influence over black voters, per the lawsuit. Enyia is the vice president of a local cannabis company, a board member of the Chicago Philharmonic, and a former director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission.
Vallas said throughout his campaign that he intended to place Enyia in a high-level position should he win the Chicago mayoral race. The candidate went “to multiple meetings and gatherings in the South and West sides of Chicago,” where Enyia introduced Vallas “to pastors, ministers, congregations, community organizations and groups in Chicago’s Black community,” the suit read.
The former CEO knew of Enyia’s work on former Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign, and other previous candidates for elected offices had vouched for Enyia, saying that “he made the introductions necessary for a candidate to reach out to Chicago’s Black community. Vallas also verified Chima’s professional experience,” the lawsuit read.
Enyia was paid $40,000 a month in March and April for his work on the campaign as a strategist and consultant, when others on the campaign were making between $10,000 and $20,000, per the suit. Vallas approved Ikoro LLC for $200,000 to place the signage in black communities and remove signs linking Vallas to former President Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans — Vallas, a more centrist Democrat, was accused of being too conservative for Chicago by his opponents after receiving endorsements from the Right, as well as the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.
Enyia’s arrangement to become a strategist, which he made with campaign manager Brian Towne, was called “Chima’s Fake Consulting Services Agreement” in the lawsuit. According to the suit, Vallas never knew about the arrangement, and it was not put in writing.
“From March 15 to April 3, 2023, Chima (Enyia) would call Towne stating that he was paying hundreds of people on the streets to remove the Vallas for Mayor signs that had been vandalized and unauthorized MAGA signs containing the name Vallas for Mayor that had been placed in Black communities, when in fact in was only Chima himself removing the signs,” the suit read.
Enyia allegedly received payments from the campaign after threatening that his workers would go to the “other side,” referring to the Johnson campaign, if they did not receive payment “immediately.”
Vallas allegedly reviewed the finances himself after Election Day and spotted the $200,000 payment, which he was unaware of, according to the lawsuit.
“Vallas asked Chima to explain why he invoiced and received a $200,000 payment on March 20, 2023, and demanded Chima produce documents as to how the $200,000 was used,” the lawsuit read. “Chima became irate. Chima stated that there were no receipts for how Chima used the funds. Vallas demanded that Chima return the funds to Vallas of Mayor. Chima refused to provide any documents and to return the funds.”
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Payments to Ikoro LLC made up just a small amount of the $17.7 million that Vallas spent on his campaign. Johnson defeated Vallas, 52% to 48%, during the runoff election. Both men had ousted Mayor Lori Lightfoot from her position, which she held since 2019 in the February general election. Vallas faced allegations of poor financial management for his work leading school districts in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.
The first hearing for this lawsuit is Aug. 21, 2023, per the county court website. The Washington Examiner reached out to Vallas’s campaign for comment.