Ex-CHA Boss Accused In $4.8 Million Kickback Caper

Federal prosecutors say a former insider at the Chicago Housing Authority turned public housing repair work into a private cash stream, steering millions in contracts to a favored contractor in exchange for hefty kickbacks.

An indictment unsealed Tuesday accuses Ryan Ross, a former director in the CHA’s Property and Asset Management department, and contractor Vanessa Rhodes of running a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme that funneled CHA work to companies tied to Rhodes. Prosecutors allege Ross took more than $421,000 in kickbacks while steering roughly $4.8 million in CHA contracts to those firms, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois.

Ross, described in charging documents as a key decision-maker over property work, and Rhodes, president of Bell’s Better Buildings Inc. doing business as Twenty Eleven Construction, were each charged with eight counts of honest-services fraud. Prosecutors say the alleged payments occurred in 2023 and 2024 and that Ross used some of the money for a vehicle along with repairs and renovations on his home. Arraignments have not yet been scheduled.

Local coverage notes that prosecutors accuse Ross and Rhodes of hiding the arrangement by submitting false proposals, scopes of work and invoices to the CHA, and by routing payments through an affiliated company. Investigators from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General and the CHA’s Office of Inspector General took part in the probe, as reported by FOX 32 Chicago.

How prosecutors say the scheme worked

The indictment describes a pattern in which unit-turn work at CHA properties was allegedly channeled through a second company so payments could be diverted and a cut sent back to Ross, according to a filing from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Charging documents outline bank-account transfers and say Ross directed property managers to assign work to the companies involved and approved invoices that hid his financial interest in the payments.

CHA contracting scrutiny in recent years

The case lands as the CHA is already under the microscope for how it picks and polices vendors. A report from WBEZ last year found the authority had paid nearly $22 million to companies tied to a CHA commissioner, raising fresh questions about oversight and conflict-of-interest rules. That history has only intensified calls from watchdogs for tighter procurement controls as the authority works to repair aging public housing stock.

Legal outlook

Each count of honest-services fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison if convicted, according to FOX 32 Chicago. Ross and Rhodes are presumed innocent, and prosecutors say they plan to keep working with HUD-OIG and CHA-OIG as the case moves through federal court.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros has characterized the allegations as a breach of public trust and urged anyone with information about contracting misconduct to contact law enforcement. Upcoming court dates will be set by federal judges in Chicago as the matter proceeds.