Calling it a "Christmas present," a Cook County family court judge said she would allow a River Forest businessman out of jail for the holidays - if he can come up with $300,000 in cash, and agree to be on electronic home monitoring, until he manages to pay $200,000 more to satisfy the judge's prior orders to begin paying off $1.6 million in legal bills racked up by him and his ex-wife during a long, contentious divorce proceeding.
On Dec. 21, at the end of a heated remote hearing via Zoom, Cook County Circuit Judge Abbey Romanek largely rejected an emergency motion from attorneys for Frank "Marty" Paris to secure his release from Cook County Jail while Paris' recently filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy case moves forward.
Paris has been incarcerated in the county jail since Dec. 8, when he was arrested on a civil warrant, known as a writ of body attachment, issued by Judge Romanek, who ruled Paris again was in contempt of court for not fulfilling prior orders issued by that judge and others amid the divorce proceedings.
Donald J. Angelini Jr.
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The jailing marked the second time a Cook County judge has ordered Paris incarcerated during the divorce proceedings that began in 2016.
The couple had married in 2002 and have seven children, according to court documents.
Paris, founder and president of Sedgwick Development in Chicago, had been jailed for five days in 2017 at the order of Cook County Judge Karen Bowes, allegedly for failure to comply with orders from that judge to set aside $750,000 to pay his then-wife's legal bills.
Throughout the process, Paris has argued the nature of his business mean that seemingly tens of millions of dollars in revenue that appear on balance sheets and income statements don't actually equate to money in his bank accounts. Rather, Paris has argued those revenue figures represent "phantom income" that merely passes through his business to lenders who help to finance his company's residential building projects in Chicago and nearby suburbs.
However, judges have consistently sided with his ex-wife in finding that they believe Paris has a net worth of more than $20 million, and should be able to afford to pay off court-ordered judgments, including thousands of dollars each month in alimony and child support plus all living expenses for the homes held by his ex-wife, tens of thousands of dollars annually for his children's "activities," and millions in legal bills for attorneys who represented him and his ex-wife.
Lawyers who have backed Paris' incarceration over the unpaid bills include attorneys from the firms of Lake Toback DiDomenico and Hurst Robin Kay & Allen, who have represented Paris; and attorneys from the firms of Cronin & Co. and Angelini Ori & Abate, who have represented Kerry Paris in the proceedings.
Among others who would receive a cut of proceeds is believed to be attorney Sean Crotty, of the firm of Crotty & Schiltz.
According to court documents, Crotty purportedly has co-habitated with Kerry Paris during the Paris divorce proceedings, and the two have been romantically involved.
According to court documents, Crotty also has recently completed divorce proceedings.
Former Cook County Judge Tim Murphy formally dissolved the Paris' marriage in December 2022.
According to court documents, Paris paid $500,000 in family support since last December. However, he has persistently told the court that he cannot pay the additional sums, asserting he doesn't have the money available.
In response, attorneys for Kerry Paris have argued Marty has the ability to sell off the real estate held by various corporate entities they believe are under his control to satisfy the court's orders.
Marty Paris has responded by asserting this represented an overly-simplistic appraisal of his business dealings and structure, claiming persistently that he cannot access the money that is locked up in the corporate entities.
Marty Paris' assertions, however, have proven unpersuasive to Judge Romanek and others, leading to multiple findings of civil contempt against Paris and ultimately the order for his indefinite incarceration, pending his ability to "purge" the contempt.
Shortly before his jailing, Marty Paris filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Chicago federal court. As part of that filing, Paris asked a federal bankruptcy judge to use the protection from debt collections afforded to bankruptcy filers to secure his release from jail while the bankruptcy proceedings move forward.
Paris and his lawyers pointed to a 2020 decision from U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who ruled "that civil contempt is not a basis for continued incarceration of the Debtor in a state jail, and such an incarceration did not come within the 'police and regulatory power' exception to the automatic stay."
Kerry Paris and her attorneys have refused to agree to Marty Paris' release from jail, and responded with a motion of their own, asking the bankruptcy judge to agree that the automatic stay provisions don't apply to Judge Romanek's orders, and that Paris should remain in jail until he pays.
They say the bankruptcy filing was a "textbook bad faith" filing entirely to thwart state court contempt proceedings.
Lawyers signing the petition seeking to keep Marty Paris in jail include attorneys Steven R. Jakubowski and Carolina Y. Sales, of the firm of Robbins DiMonte; Thomas C. Cronin, of Cronin & Co.; and Sean Crotty and Elizabeth Richert, of Crotty & Schiltz, all of Chicago.
Bankruptcy Judge David Cleary held a lengthy hearing on that request earlier this month, but reached no decision, and continued the hearing until Jan. 3.
According to attorneys for both sides, the judge left "undisturbed" Romanek's orders, and invited further briefing from lawyers on some key legal questions, before he would deliver a decision on Marty Paris' jailing.
In the meantime, Marty Paris' lawyer, Glenn Udell, filed an emergency motion in Cook County court, asking Judge Romanek to release Paris from jail amid the bankruptcy proceedings.
In that motion, Udell asserted Paris had fulfilled many of the directives in the judge's contempt order, including signing over the property to Kerry Paris and submitting a life insurance applicaton.
But Udell told the judge that Paris cannot complete the insurance application process while in jail.
And Udell again told the court that Paris cannot pay $500,000, saying he does not have that amount of cash in any account. Even if he did, Udell said, all of his assets are under the control of the bankruptcy trustee, and no large sums can be paid without the approval of the court.
At best, Udell said Paris could borrow $150,000 to cover a portion of the bond.
Udell said Paris had done all he can do to satisfy the judge's orders while he remains in jail.
Udell and Paris' bankruptcy lawyer, Scott Clar, told the judge they believe Paris is being wrongfully jailed.
"There is a man sitting at 26th and California who doesn't belong there," Clar said. "And at Christmas, when he's trying to see his kids."
In response, attorneys Tom Cronin, who is currently representing Kerry Paris, and Donald Angelini Jr., who is seeking to enforce court orders to receive payment from Marty Paris, asserted the judge had no obligation to release Marty Paris at this time, until and unless the bankruptcy court says otherwise.
Cronin said the record in the case indicates that Marty Paris "will do nothing" to fulfill the court orders "unless he is incarcerated."
Angelini asserted the continued jailing is justified, as he said Paris as "thumbed his nose" at the court's prior orders.
Cronin and Angelini said the latest legal filings amount to a continuation of a "game of keepaway" allegedly being played by Marty Paris and his legal team.
In addressing Paris' assertion that he can borrow $150,000, Angelini told the court: "If he can get a $150,000 loan, he can get $500,000."
Paris' bankruptcy attorney, Scott Clar, again challenged that assertion, saying the bankruptcy trustee likely would still control.
Judge Romanek sided with Angelini and Cronin, saying she believed "If he (Paris) can borrow $150,000, he can borrow $300,000."
She said she agreed that the bankruptcy proceedings don't override her prior order to jail Marty Paris.
The judge modified her order to allow Paris' release from jail if he pays $300,000 now. If he does, the judge would then place him on electronic home monitoring so the court could "keep tabs on him" until he pays the remaining $200,000 to satisfy the contempt bond.
"That's my Christmas present to you," the judge said.
It is not known if Marty Paris has yet paid any of the money to satisfy the judge's order and secure his release.