Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough Hit With Lawsuit on Private Sales

A lawsuit filed against Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough brings new accusations of misconduct to the public official who’s been surrounded by a federal probe as of late.

A Cook County employee sued Yarbrough and her husband, alleging actions that were “wanton, calculated, and with malice and willfulness,” the Chicago Tribune reported. The plaintiff, a former employee of Yarbrough’s office, claims to have been defrauded out of hundreds of thousands of dollars involving the sale of two buildings in Maywood, including one where Yarbrough’s campaign fund pays for an office rent.

The former employee, George Ferro, claims that Yarbrough sold him the buildings without having the legal authority to do so. He also alleges that Yarbrough and her husband Henderson conspired with village officials to harass and obstruct Ferro from operating the properties.

Ferro hired the attorney Anthony Peraica — a Republican who previously served the Cook County Board and also ran against and lost to Yarbrough in the county clerk’s seat race last year — to represent him in the lawsuit. Ferro is seeking damages, attorney fees and the deeds to both properties. If he wins the lawsuit, he wants to be fully reimbursed for what he spent on improvements to the buildings.

He claims he paid $100,000 to buy a building at 1023-1031 South 17th Avenue and $106,000 for 1001 South 17th in Maywood and signed deed agreements with Yarbrough, and spent $300,000 for work on the roofing, a water heater system and other repairs for the buildings, yet she never turned over the deeds to the properties.

Yarbrough has denied the allegations, calling them “frivolous” and “malicious.” She has said that she was acting as a trustee for her deceased father’s properties when she sold them to Ferro.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of controversies involving Yarbrough. In 2019, she was placed under federal oversight for her hiring practices. The oversight was lifted earlier this month, but some watchdogs have expressed concerns that Yarbrough has not fully addressed problematic personnel practices, the outlet reported.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Yarbroughs lied to Ferro about the condition of the properties he purchased, and he later discovered that they had significant structural problems, including a leaking roof. He also alleges that the Proviso Township Democratic Party and family-owned businesses on the ground level of the buildings he bought failed to make rent payments, as did all but one of the Yarbrough relatives living in the apartment units above the businesses in the buildings.

Yarbrough allegedly advised Ferro to allow the properties to go to delinquent property tax sale and bid on the properties through a new entity. Ferro believes Yarbrough was coordinating with others so they could outbid him.

Yarbrough “intended that (Ferro) lose all claim” to both properties “by administrative proceedings such as tax sales or sale forced by financial failure caused by a lack of rental income,” the lawsuit reads.

Now, Ferro says his current boss, Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez, plans to fire him “on false allegations of improper actions.” Yarbrough pushed to get Ferro terminated, according to the suit. Martinez denied that claim.

“The allegations made by Mr. Ferro and his attorney Anthony Peraica about me are not only false, they are presumptive, reckless and defamatory,” Martinez told the outlet. “While Mr. Ferro’s job performance in my office has been reviewed multiple times prior to the filing of his lawsuit against Clerk Yarbrough, it has nothing to do with retaliatory conduct.”

— Quinn Donoghue