A 60-Year-Old Man Faces Indefinite Jail Time for Civil Contempt in Cook County

A 60-year-old man remains locked in Cook County Jail, nearing three years behind bars for a non-criminal offense, after a state appeals court upheld a civil contempt order against him on Tuesday.

Steve Fanady finds himself unable to convince the court that he lacks the $10 million he was ordered to pay his ex-wife from their 2011 divorce, leading to an indefinite stay in custody—a situation his attorney describes as an unconstitutional “debtor’s prison.”

Despite not being convicted of a criminal offense, Fanady has already spent more time behind bars than many individuals found guilty of illegal gun possession or robbery in Cook County. His case sheds light on the complexities of justice in Illinois, where the SAFE-T Act aims to prevent the majority of criminal defendants from being jailed.

The Illinois First District Appellate Court recently affirmed Cook County Judge Michael Forti’s decision to keep Fanady incarcerated as the legal battle continues to unfold. The contentious dispute stems from a marriage that ended over a decade ago and produced no children.

Fanady has been detained since June 28, 2022, after Forti found him in contempt for failing to transfer 120,000 shares of Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) stock—or their $10 million equivalent—to his ex-wife, Pamela Harnack, as mandated by their divorce decree.

The divorce proceedings began in 2008, with the matter being finalized in 2011. The court documents reveal a convoluted narrative, with the 2011 divorce decree valuing Fanady’s assets at $7.3 million, including 280,000 CBOE shares held through corporate entities. Although 120,000 shares were awarded to his ex-wife, a lawsuit by Fanady’s former business partner complicated the distribution. The partner claimed rights to some of the same shares, and in 2017, a court ruled in favor of the partner, not the marital estate.

In response, Harnack sought the cash equivalent of the shares, valued at $10 million in 2020. When Fanady failed to comply with the court order, Forti held him in contempt, leading to his incarceration until the payment is made—a measure that the appeals court has consistently upheld as coercive rather than punitive.

Fanady maintains that he is unable to make the payment, asserting that the shares were sold for $2.9 million in 2011 and the proceeds were held in a now-dissolved Belize trust. He provided letters from alleged trustees who declined to release the funds, citing insufficient assets and legal restrictions. However, both Forti and the appellate panel dismissed these claims, highlighting the absence of authenticated financial records to substantiate his claim of insolvency.

In a statement issued to the Cook County Record, Fanady’s attorney, Laura Grochocki, expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling.

“How is it just to hold a man with no criminal record in jail indefinitely over a 16-year-old property dispute stemming from a four-year marriage with no children?” Grochocki questioned. “How is it just to revisit a final judgment that is over a decade old, revise it, increase the asset’s value fivefold, and then incarcerate a man when he is unable to pay?”

She argued that Fanady may end up spending more time behind bars than prominent politicians convicted of corruption, such as former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke and former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.