CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (BNO NEWS) – A relative of Richard Mell, the father-in-law of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was charged on Monday with tax evasion after being in a feud with the former governor.

Franck Schmidt, 40, is the sole owner of Land reclamation Services Inc. He is accused of not paying over $2 million in taxes and has agreed to plead guilty. The landfill was temporarily shut down by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2005 after accepting construction and demolition debris without a state permit.

Schmidt was at the center of a public feud and estrangement between Blagojevich and Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, whose daughter Patti is Blagojevich's wife. Schmidt is a cousin of Mell's wife.

Mell accused his son-in-law of carrying out a vendetta against him. He also accused Blagojevich's chief fundraiser, Christopher Kelly, of trading state board appointments for $50,000 contributions to the governor.

Kelly threatened Mell with a defamation suit and he retracted the charge. However, his statements caused the launch of investigations by state and federal prosecutors. Blagojevich was eventually charged with more than a dozen corruption counts.

In early August, the former Illinois Governor was convicted of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) but neutralized 23 other counts, including those related to the trade of political appointments and favors for campaign contributors.

Kelly killed himself days before beginning his eight-year sentence in federal prison for fraud, including using his company's money to pay gambling debts and claiming them as business expenses.

Schmidt sold the landfill in 2008 at about $9 million, but the U.S. attorney's office said he failed to report it on his tax return.

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