In the pleas agreement between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Jacob Kiferbaum appears the following:

Planning Board/Mercy Hospital

Hospital proposed for Crystal Lake by Mercy Health System.

[Stuart] Levine solicited a kickback of approximately $1.5 million from [Jacob] Kiferbaum relating to the construction of Mercy Hospital’s Crystal Lake facility.

Kiferbaum agreed to pay a kickback, with the exact amount and manner of the payments to be determined at a later date.

At Levine’s direction, the kickback proceeds were to be paid to Individual 1 pursuant to a sham consulting contract.

Levine agreed to and, according to Levine, did use his influence with the Planning Board to ensure that Mercy Hospital would and did receive approval of its application to build the Crystal Lake facility after it contracted with Kiferbaum Construction Company to build that facility.

In or about late 2003, Levine and Kiferbaum agreed that Levine would use his position as a Planning Board member to influence the Planning Board to approve Mercy’s application, if Mercy gave Kiferbaum Construction Company the construction contract – of approximately $49 million – to build Mercy’s proposed hospital.

In exchange, Levine asked Kiferbaum for a kickback of approximately $1.5 million, to be paid at Levine’s direction.

Kiferbaum agreed to pay a kickback, with the exact amount and manner of the payments to be determined at a later date.

On or about January 23, 2004, approximately one month after the Planning Board had made known its intent to deny Mercy Hospital’s application to build the Crystal Lake facility, Kiferbaum and Mercy Hospital signed a construction contract, agreeing that Kiferbaum Construction Company would build the new hospital for Mercy.

On or about April 21, 2004, the Planning Board voted in favor of granting Mercy’s application for a permit to build a new hospital; Levine voted to approve the application.

According to Levine, he also took steps to cause other Planning Board members to vote to approve Mercy’s application.

On or about April 21, 2004, Levine told Kiferbaum what happened at the Planning Board meeting. Levine said that nobody could have gotten this done but Levine; there was a mutiny with the Board members who did not want to approve Mercy’s application; and nobody really knew that Levine was orchestrating it. Kiferbaum said that he could not thank Levine enough.

Levine said that they were in this together.

Shortly after Mercy’s application was approved, Levine directed Kiferbaum to make the kickback payments relating to Mercy Hospital to Individual 1.

Levine told Kiferbaum he would have a consulting agreement prepared for Kiferbaum Construction Company and Individual 1’s company.

On or about April 29, 2004, Individual 1 sent a sham consulting agreement to Kiferbaum, which provided that Kiferbaum Construction Company would make payments to a company operated by Individual 1, totaling approximately $1,728,000.

This amount included proposed kickback payments relating to Mercy, and payments that Kiferbaum still owed as part of the kickback relating to the CMS addition. This agreement was never signed by Kiferbaum.