Federal prosecutors alleged for the first time on Friday that Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown took a $15,000 bribe from a man seeking employment in her office that was disguised as a loan to a business controlled by Brown and her husband.

An attorney for Brown, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, said it was a legitimate loan, not a bribe.

The filing by prosecutors also revealed that Brown exchanged numerous phone calls and text messages with the employee, Sivasubramani Rajaram, around the time he was hired.

In addition, prosecutors provided the greatest detail yet on a wider probe into bribes being paid to purchase jobs and promotions in the clerk's office, headed by Brown for more than 17 years.

The new allegations came in a sentencing memorandum for Rajaram, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to a federal grand jury investigating pay-to-play allegations in the clerk's office.

Rajaram's "motivation appears to have been protecting himself and his job," Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather McShain wrote in a memo in advance of Rajaram's sentencing later this month. "The effect of defendant's lies was to hide his own criminality—in paying a bribe to a public official to obtain a job and cheat honest applicants from obtaining that position—and divert attention from (Brown) and Individual B" – identified as a high-ranking clerk's office employee.

Ex-worker of Clerk Dorothy Brown pleads guilty in pay-to-play investigation Jason Meisner

A former employee in Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown's office pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to a federal grand jury investigating pay-to-play allegations in the clerk's office.

In pleading guilty to one count of perjury, Sivasubramani Rajaram, 48, did not agree to cooperate with...

A former employee in Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown's office pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to a federal grand jury investigating pay-to-play allegations in the clerk's office.

In pleading guilty to one count of perjury, Sivasubramani Rajaram, 48, did not agree to cooperate with...

(Jason Meisner)

Phone calls and emails to Brown's chief spokesperson were not immediately returned, but Brown's attorney, Edward Genson, reached by phone Friday, said Brown had "nothing to do" with Rajaram's hiring and that the money he paid to her company was a legitimate loan and was later paid back.

"It certainly wasn't a bribe," Genson said.

Rajaram admitted in a plea agreement with prosecutors he was hired by Brown's office in September 2014, just weeks after he purportedly lent $15,000 to a company controlled by Brown's husband, Benton Cook III.

When he was questioned about it before a federal grand jury in October 2015, Rajaram said he hadn't spoken to Brown after his hiring. He also admitted lying when he testified that he had spoken to Individual B "three or four times" and that none of those conversations was by phone, according to his plea deal.

A few weeks after Rajaram's testimony, Brown's cell phone was seized by the FBI. Brown had Rajaram's number stored in her contacts list, according to the filing.

Prosecutors also revealed for the first time Friday that Brown had exchanged 26 text messages with Rajaram between August 2014 and January 2015, made three outgoing calls to Rajaram's cell phone and received incoming calls from him.

On Sept. 4, 2015, Rajaram sent Brown a text that read, "Wish you a happy birthday and many happy returns of the day," signing the message with his first name as well as his wife's name, the filing said.

Prosecutors said in the filing that Rajaram's wife had also sought employment with the clerk's office, but it was not clear if she was hired.

Rajaram, who did not agree to cooperate with prosecutors in the ongoing investigation, faces up to 21 months in prison when he is sentenced later this month. Prosecutors said in the filing they will seek a 15-month prison term.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jmetr22b

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