Six weeks after former Chicago Ald. Edward “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak reported to federal prison for a tax-related conviction, his lawyers have filed an emergency petition for his release citing his age and the surging omicron variant.

       After several pandemic-related delays, Vrdolyak entered a federal medical facility in Rochester, Minnesota, on Nov. 30 to begin serving his 18-month sentence for his conviction related to millions of dollars that he and an associate reaped from the state’s massive settlement with the tobacco companies in the 1990s.

       But in an emergency motion Friday, lawyers for Vrdolyak, who turned 84 last month, said he continues to suffer from a variety of serious medical conditions and has a compromised immune system that “place him at significant risk for severe illness, if not almost certainly, death, should he contract COVID-19.”

       The motion asks U.S. District Judge Robert Dow to reduce Vrdolyak’s sentence to time served, which would mean his immediate release, or recommend to prison officials that he be transferred to home confinement “at the earliest opportunity.”

       The motion stated Vrdolyak, who also suffers from dementia, was immediately placed in solitary confinement when he reported to prison, which “led to some harrowing and emotional turmoil” including disorientation and uncontrollable crying.

       “So stark has it been that Mr. Vrdolyak’s ‘grasp of reality seems to have been severed,’” the motion stated, citing a report from a medical expert who examined the former alderman.

       Dow had initially delayed Vrdolyak’s prison term until vaccines were widely available. In ordering him to report to the Rochester facility in November, Dow said he’s been in communication with prison officials, who assured him they “are comfortable that their institution … can accept (Vrdolyak) and provide any medical care that he needs.”

       A hearing for the motion for Vrdolyak’s release had not been set as of Friday.

       Vrdolyak pleaded guilty in March 2019 to a tax charge alleging he obstructed an IRS investigation into payments to and from his friend and associate Daniel Soso related to the state’s $9.3 billion settlement with tobacco companies in the late 1990s.

       In asking for prison time, prosecutors said Vrdolyak had been paid at least $12 million in fees stemming from the settlement even though he did no legal work on the case and hid his involvement from the Illinois attorney general.

       Vrdolyak’s lawyers argued that his cut from the tobacco deal was a legitimately earned consulting fee paid by a law firm that had sought his expertise and assistance.

       In sentencing Vrdolyak in 2020, Dow said he was not taking the tobacco litigation windfall into consideration.

       Soso, 70, a lawyer and former Chicago cop, pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of income tax evasion for failing to report more than $3 million in income in the deal. He was sentenced in March 2020 to two years in prison.

       jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

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