THE DILEMMA FOR HONEST PROFESSIONALS on THE 18TH FLOOR OF THE DALEY CENTER

THE DILEMMA FOR HONEST PROFESSIONALS on THE 18TH FLOOR OF THE DALEY CENTER




As many of our readers are aware, the 18th floor of the Daley Center in Cook County (Chicago), Illinois is a hotbed for financial exploitation of the elderly and disabled. We at Probate Sharks are aware of many cases in which the disabled elderly and children are being abused through the Probate Court.



Abuses include: Illegally changed Powers of Attorney so court-favored guardians can profit; cases where jurisdictional requirements have been violated (including failure to notify the near family members, holding monetary assets in Cook County while the ward lives elsewhere, and other jurisdictional violations); deception of the elderly committed by owners of guardianship/care management companies in order to have the ward choose their services over family members; fraudulent public aid applications; abuse of OBRA Special Needs Pooled Trusts; abuse of bank-held trusts; illegal submissions for Medicare services not provided; and false information being submitted into court record to discredit caring family members to have them removed as guardians so a for-profit guardian can step in and control the estate; and restriction of visitation from family members who may speak the truth.



In other words, this financial rape of the elderly and disabled is occuring through many different avenues. Call this what you may, but this truth teller can no longer refrain from using the word corruption.



How can such corruption exist, you may ask. Well, for starters, it is allowed from the top down--the judges approve it and award the rapists the title of Guardian.



But, the buck doesn't stop there. When crimes are reported to disciplinary boards such as the ARDC and IDFPR, no actions are taken against the unethical professionals. In fact, the ARDC has an exceptionally low rate of discipline against the attorneys that practice on the 18th floor (see our post in the index to right entitled "ARDC Audit Results". We also have reports of a lack of an appropriate response by the IDFPR, including at least one professional who was reprimanded by an official at the IDFPR for reporting witnessed criminal activity.



And this is where the dilemma comes in for the honest professionals who practice on the 18th floor of the Daley Center. The professionals fear retaliation if they report the unethical and illegal activities that they witness. Although required by law to report these crimes, they are fully aware that they will not only be black-balled and financially ruined themselves, but they risk loss of licensure as well as they speak the truth for all to hear.



The coming days and weeks ahead will be a telling sign as an honest professional in Cook County is being tried by the ARDC for speaking the truth loudly and clearly for all to hear. This attorney's license is at stake as the ARDC tries him for using his right to free speech to protect the financial exploitation of a ward of the 18th floor.



We at Probate Sharks are providing our full support for this attorney whose conscience has guided him to not back down in his attempts to expose the corruption that he has seen. We also acknowledge that there is a dilemma for other professionals to come forward and report these crimes. However, if professionals continue to be forced into silence by the powers that be in the state of Illinois who are backing and supporting this corruption, defenseless disabled wards will continue to be exploited.



If all honest professionals would hold themselves to their conscience and report these crimes, law enforcement officials would have the evidence needed for the next "Greylord case" in Cook County.



And so we make this plea to all honest professionals on the 18th Floor of the Daley Center: Please follow your conscience and join with us in speaking the truth so loudly and so clearly that we can no longer be silenced and ignored. Please help us protect the wards in Cook County.



Please visit this blog--it provides handy resources for reporting much of the corruption that you see. For your convenience, the link to this blog is also in our "Contact Us" section on this Probate Sharks blog.



www.probateabusemanual.blogspot.com





Signed,



Your ProbateSharks Truth Teller