CHICAGO — A federal grand jury indicted a former Chicago Housing Authority property director and a construction company owner on charges they ran a $4.8 million kickback scheme that diverted public housing repair funds into their own pockets, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced.
Ryan Ross, 50, of Bolingbrook, Ill., formerly a director in the CHA’s Property and Asset Management Department, received more than $421,000 in kickbacks from Vanessa Rhodes, 47, of Chicago, the president of Bell’s Better Buildings, Inc., which did business as Twenty Eleven Construction, Inc., according to the eight-count indictment. In exchange, Ross used his official position to steer more than $4.8 million in construction and renovation work at CHA properties to Rhodes’s companies in 2023 and 2024.
“Corruption in the awarding of public housing contracts undermines trust, distorts competition, and diverts already scarce resources,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros. He added that “holding individuals accountable when they exploit their positions for personal gain is essential to protecting the integrity of our public institutions, ensuring that taxpayer funds are properly safeguarded, and making sure that everyday people in need of public housing assistance get the support they are entitled to under the programs.”
The indictment alleges Ross and Rhodes concealed the scheme by submitting false documents to the CHA, including proposals, scopes of work, and invoices. They also caused Rhodes’s husband to falsely represent himself to CHA property managers as an employee of an affiliated company who would purportedly complete work on CHA units. Ross spent some of the kickback money to purchase a vehicle and pay for repairs and renovations on his home, the indictment states.
“Ryan Ross and Vanessa Rhodes allegedly took advantage of a position of public trust to engage in a kickback scheme to enrich themselves,” said Machelle Jindra, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General. “Their scheme corrupted the fair and competitive contracting process and undermined the confidence in the integrity of HUD-funded programs.”
CHA Inspector General Kathryn Richards said her office had “worked side‑by‑side with federal law enforcement to hold Ross and Rhodes accountable for their egregious corruption.” Richards added: “They hijacked a program meant to repair and preserve Chicago’s already scarce public housing, diverting public funds to enrich themselves.”
Both defendants face eight counts of honest services fraud, each carrying a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Prashant Kolluri and Hanna Helwig. Arraignments in federal court in Chicago have not yet been scheduled.