Thank you, Tim Hecke for sharing my story!
Apparently, this article is a frequent read and re-read. Chicago and Illinois is making a WORLDWIDE reputation as ONE of the most corrupt jurisdictions IN THE UNITED STATES. SHOW ME ANOTHER PLACE IN THE US WHERE ONE JUDGE CAN MAKE UP THE FACTS AT-WILL, IN BLATANT CONTRADICTION TO THE FACTS IN THE RECORD.
Man jailed 3 years in divorce dispute will stay there, appeals court rules
Tim Hecke
June 25, 2025
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 Tuesday.
Steve Fanady, unable to convince the court he lacks the $10 million he was ordered to pay his ex-wife from their 2011 divorce, faces an indefinite stay in custody—a situation his attorney calls an unconstitutional “debtor’s prison.”
Already, Fanady has spent more time behind bars than most people convicted in Cook County of illegal gun possession or even robbery. And his case provides an interesting example of justice in Illinois, where the SAFE-T Act prohibits the majority of criminal defendants from being jailed.
The Illinois First District Appellate Court yesterday affirmed Cook County Judge Michael Forti’s decision to keep Fanady jailed as the contentious legal battle, rooted in an approximately five-year 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.
Harnack filed for divorce in 2008 and the matter was finalized three years later.
Court records reveal a complex saga. The 2011 divorce decree valued Fanady’s worth at $7.3 million, including 280,000 CBOE shares held through corporate entities. The court awarded 120,000 shares to his ex-wife, but a simultaneous lawsuit by Fanady’s former business partner complicated matters. That partner claimed rights to some of the same shares, and in 2017, a court ruled those shares belonged to the partner, not the marital estate.
Harnack returned to divorce court, securing an order for the man to pay the cash equivalent of the shares, valued at $10 million in 2020. When he failed to comply, Forti held him in contempt, ordering his incarceration until he pays—a sanction the appeals court has repeatedly upheld as coercive, not punitive.
Fanady insists he cannot pay, claiming the shares were sold for $2.9 million in 2011 and the proceeds held in a now-dissolved Belize trust. He presented letters from alleged trustees, who refused to release funds, citing insufficient assets and legal constraints. However, Forti and the appellate panel dismissed these claims, noting Fanady provided no authenticated financial records to prove his insolvency.
In a statement issued to the Cook County Record, Fanady’s attorney, Laura Grochocki, decried 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 asked. “How is it just to reopen a final judgment that’s over a decade old, rewrite it, quintuple the value of the asset, and then jail a man when he can’t pay?”
She argued Fanady may spend more time in jail than top politicians convicted of corruption, including former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke and former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Click here to support CWB Chicago’s court reporting for just $49 a year.
Fanady blog 