SPRINGFIELD, IL (Chambana Today) – Former Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, has been fined $150,000 for violating the state’s anti-corruption law. Ezike, who led Illinois’ health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, breached the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act’s “revolving door” provision in 2022 by accepting a position as CEO of Sinai Chicago, a hospital in Chicago’s West Side.
State investigators revealed Ezike admitted her violation following an almost three-year investigation by the Executive Ethics Commission. The law prohibits high-level state employees from accepting jobs with organizations that were involved with state contracts or regulatory decisions within a year of leaving their government role.
Sinai Health System, which received $4.2 million in grants from the IDPH in the year before Ezike departed, fell under this restriction. Ezike’s legal team argued that they had consulted with counsel and the IDPH ethics officer before accepting the job, and that the grants were not considered “contracts.”…