Schakowsky’s husband sentenced to 5 months

The husband of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) was sentenced to five months in prison yesterday for his role in a check-kiting plot.

Robert Creamer, as executive director of the nonprofit Illinois Public Action Fund, inflated profits to pay for the group’s expenses. He defrauded banks out of $2.3 million.

District Court Judge James Moran said that Creamer did not use the money for personal gain but to save the public-interest group. The effort failed, and the group folded in 1997. Neither the government nor the banks lost money because of Creamer’s actions, the judge said. Schakowsky has not been implicated in the scheme.

Schakowsky said in the courthouse lobby yesterday: “I know that Bob will continue building every day on his lifelong record of commitment to good and honorable work to benefit others.”

Creamer is to report to begin his prison term by June 6.