Judge sets $10M bond for Chicago factory CEO where workers staged sit-in

$10M bond for Ill factory CEO where workers sat-in

CHICAGO — A judge has set bond at $10 million for the former CEO of a Chicago factory where workers staged a high-profile sit-in last year.

Richard Gillman appeared in bond court Thursday on charges including felony theft and money laundering at Republic Windows and Doors.

Gasps could be heard in the courtroom when Judge Peggy Chiampas set Gillman’s bond.

After the hearing, Gillman’s attorney Ed Genson blasted the judge for setting a bond that far exceeded even prosecutors’ recommendations of $500,000.

Genson said Gillman doesn’t have enough money to post bail and that he’ll appeal the amount.

Prosecutors told the bond court that Gillman, 56, took part in a scheme to defraud Republic’s creditors that allegedly included moving money through a shell corporation.

They also accused him of illegally transferring trucks and other property to a new factory in Red Oak, Iowa.

The gray-haired Gillman didn’t speak, and he appeared shell-shocked as he stood before the judge’s bench in a courtroom crowded with suspects in other criminal cases.

Even prosecutors appeared startled by the high bond, their eyes widening as the judge made her ruling.

The defense had asked bond to be set at $250,000.

The judge didn’t say directly why she set bond so high, but in her questions and comments before her ruling she noted the dozens of employees who lost jobs at Republic.

Gillman’s attorney immediately objected, telling the judge that his client was effectively bankrupt and couldn’t put up the required $1 million to get out of jail.

“Setting bond that high is like setting no bond at all,” Genson told the judge.

After the hearing, a visibly angry Genson — who has represented numerous celebrities from governors to superstar singers — called the legal action against Gillman “a play at publicity.”

But he reserved his most scathing words for the bond court judge.

“That was the most blatant abuse of judicial discretion I have seen in 40 years (as an attorney),” he told reporters, his voice rising. “This man does not belong in jail.”

Union representatives have long alleged that Republic violated labor law by actions such as removing machinery from the plant as it closed. Republic executives have denied wrongdoing.

The workers’ six-day occupation of the factory in December drew national attention to the plight of laid-off labor.