Patrick R. Daley | |
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| Born | Patrick Richard Daley June 10, 1975 |
| Education | United States Military Academy University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BA) University of Chicago (MBA) |
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Patrick Richard Daley (born June 10, 1975) is an American businessman. He is the son of the former mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley. Daley and his father are partners in a Chicago-based investment firm.
Patrick Daley is the son of politician Richard M. Daley and Margaret "Maggie" Corbett Daley.[1] He attended Mount Carmel High School in Chicago. At age 18, Daley enrolled as a cadet in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, having been nominated to the academy by U.S. Representative Bill Lipinski. He left West Point during his first year.[2][3] In 2004, he received an MBA from the University of Chicago.[2] Later that year, the 29-year-old Daley decided to enlist in the Army's regular airborne infantry rather than enter service through officer's training.[4]
Daley has been actively involved in several civic and philanthropic endeavors. He serves on the board of various non-profit organizations dedicated to education, youth empowerment, and urban renewal.[5] Recognizing the importance of education, he has been a staunch advocate for improving schools and expanding educational opportunities for all residents.[6][7]
In 2019, Daley married Tara Flocco with the ceremony held at Theater on the Lake when Patrick’s late mother, Maggie Daley, was memorialized.[8]
Patrick was an MBA student at the University of Chicago's Business School, working as an unpaid intern at Cardinal Growth, a Chicago venture capital firm. In June 2003, Patrick and his cousin Vanecko formed a Delaware company MSS Investors LLC and invested $65,000 each to acquire a 5% stake in Municipal Sewer Services, a Cardinal Growth venture. Months later, Municipal Sewer Services was awarded a $3 million, no-bid sewer inspection contract extension from the City of Chicago, and, later, two further extensions worth an additional $4 million.[9][10] Daley's and Venecko's ownership was deliberately omitted from the ethics disclosures required of City contractors.[11][12][13]
The day after Patrick Daley's and Robert Vanecko's hidden involvement in a city contract was disclosed in the Chicago Sun-Times, Mayor Daley stated, "I did not know about [Patrick's] involvement in this company." Mayor Daley also said he didn't know if there are other city contracts involving the younger Daley.[14][15] A Chicago Tribune editorial asked, "Who omitted the names of the clout cousins when Municipal Sewer Services filed its disclosure statements? Who at City Hall tapped the company for no-bid work? Were the cousins involved in any other ventures doing business with the city?"[16]
The city's inspector general and federal authorities began investigations in December 2007. Patrick Daley and Robert Vanecko hired criminal defense attorneys.[17] Municipal Sewer Services LLC folded in April 2008.[10] In January 2011, the president of Municipal Sewer Services, was charged with three counts of mail fraud in conjunction with minority contracting, and later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 17 months in prison.[18][12] Jesse Brunt and his company, Brunt Brothers Transfer Inc., was also indicted on three counts of mail fraud. Patrick Daley and Vanecko were not charged with any crime.[19][20][21]
In 2005, Concourse Communications, another Cardinal Growth venture, signed a potentially lucrative city contract for airport Wi-Fi service at city-owned O'Hare Airport and Midway Airport. Concourse disclosed its investors to the city, as required, and Daley was not listed. On June 27, 2006, nine months after it signed the contract, Concourse was sold, at a 33% profit, to Boingo Wireless Inc. for $45 million. Over the next 17 months, Daley received five payments from Concourse totaling $544,210, for a total of $708,999.[22][23] "...[T]he conflict of interest was blatant...all the laws in the world can't deter one truly single-minded schemer," the Chicago Sun-Times editorialized.[24] In February, 2010 Daley lived in Moscow between deployments.[25] In June 2011, United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald filed suit on behalf of the Small Business Administration to recover $21.4 million of a $51 million small business loan Cardinal Growth had borrowed but was unable to repay, and Cardinal Growth agreed to be liquidated.[26][27][28]