Tony Rezko arrested in Chicago

Antoin 'Tony' Rezko, the controversial property developer who has become a key figure in the feud between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, was arrested today. Investigators looking into his finances sent federal agents to his house to apprehend him for bond violations. He is scheduled to stand trial in Chicago on charges of extortion, money laundering and fraud before Amy St Eve, the judge who last year jailed Conrad Black.

Rezko’s name came to prominence recently when Hillary Clinton accused Obama a live television debate of having once represented Rezko when the Illinois senator was a practising lawyer. Clinton described Rezko as a "Chicago slumlord".

The Clinton camp later revealed a 17-year relationship between Obama and Rezko, involving campaign fundraising and a property deal in 2006. Obama has since called his dealings with Rezko "a mistake", and has promised that the $80,000 in funds raised by Rezko have been donated to charity.

The affair became doubly complicated on Friday when political blogger Matt Drudge published an undated photograph showing Rezko standing between a beaming Bill and Hillary Clinton. Clinton denies any significant association between her and Rezko, and says she has been photographed "hundreds of thousands" of times with strangers. "I wouldn’t know him if he walked in the door," she said.

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 28, 2008