Dr. Eric Whitaker, who is one of President Barack Obama's closest friends, has been labeled a "hostile witness" by Obama's Justice Department, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
The motion filed by the Justice Department states that Whitaker is "a witness clearly hostile to the government." Whitaker headed the Illinois Department of Public Health at the time of a fraud scheme by Leon Dingle Jr. that stole $3 million in tax payer money. It is suspected that Whitaker has a sexual relationship with Dingle's lawyer.
Federal prosecutors filed the hostile-witness motion Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, where Dingle is on trial. They cited three instances in which they said state grant money awarded to Dingle ended up benefiting Whitaker, who hasn't been charged with any crime.
The motion comes after Whitaker backed off a deal he struck in 2012 to cooperate with authorities investigating fraud involving grants from the Illinois Department of Public Health, which he headed under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
He stopped cooperating after being asked about his relationship with Quinshaunta R. Golden, who was his chief of staff at the state agency and oversaw the awarding of millions of dollars in state grants and contracts to Dingle, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors had questioned Whitaker about whether he'd had a "sexual relationship" with Golden, a lawyer for Dingle revealed at an Oct. 1 pretrial hearing.
In their 13-page motion, prosecutors said Whitaker is "a witness clearly hostile to the government" not only for refusing to cooperate, but also because of his ties to Dingle.
"The government is not seeking permission to [treat Whitaker as a hostile witness] solely because Dr. Whitaker refused to answer a single question about a sexual relationship with Golden. It is counsel for Dingle . . . that has raised such an issue," Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass wrote. "Rather, Dr. Whitaker was the Director of DPH . . . during the time millions of dollars in grant funds were awarded to" a not-for-profit group Dingle controlled.
The $3 million that was fraudulently taken by Dingle was intended for AIDS-awareness health programs.