Rod Blagojevich was born on 10 December 1956, in Chicago, Illinois USA, of Serbian and Bosnian descent. Rob is a retired professional boxer and politician, best known to have served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. He also previously served as a state representative, being elected into the US House of Representatives. All of his endeavors have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Rod Blagojevich? As of early-2017, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $100,000, mostly retained from his boxing and political careers. A lot of his original wealth was removed after it was discovered that he was soliciting bribes for political appointments, leading to his impeachment and imprisonment.
Rod Blagojevich Net Worth $100,000
Rod attended Lane Technical High School and later transferred to Foreman High School. He played basketball during this time, and would participate in boxing matches as well. After matriculating, he went to the University of Tampa and would stay there for two years before transferring to Northwestern University, from where e graduated in 1979 with a degree in history then attending Pepperdine University School of Law to get his J.D. degree in 1983.
For Blagojevich’s career, he started off as an amateur boxer which spanned 13 months; he fought in the middleweight division and would defeat several opponents leading him into the local Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament. However, he lost during the second night of the competition, leading him to retire from the sport.
Rod then worked as Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney, generally working as an assistant prosecutor specializing in domestic abuse, crimes, and felony weapon cases. In 1992, he would become part of the 33rd state house district, and would use his legal background for his new political position. He would stay in the seat until 1996, when he would put his hand up to be part of Illinois’ 5th congressional district. He would win the election, and this would help his net worth rise further. However, he wasn’t known as an active congressman, but did support in favor of the invasion of Iraq in 2002.
During the same year, Blagojevich campaigned for a party nomination to become governor. He won the primary and would then continue to gain support from other politicians; he defeated Jim Ryan in the general elections with 52% of the vote. In 2005, Rod then served as a federal liaison for the Democratic Governors Association, but during this time his popularity was waning due to numerous scandals that were surfacing. Despite this, he was still endorsed by a lot of Democratic leaders and would win re-election. Rod worked on a lot of reforms and a lot of progressive legislation; one of his most notable contributions was a strict new ethics law. He also oversaw education funding and proposed many programs for Illinois. Aside from these political works, he also appeared regularly on “The Daily Show” during 2006.
Blagojevich caused a lot of controversies during his political career, including banning sales of certain video games to minors. He also erected costly signs apart from the usual $200 signs.
Eventually, he was arrested in 2008 and was charged with corruption, and conspiring to commit pay to play schemes. He tried to fight back with a media campaign in 2009 during which he insisted on his innocence. Eventually, it was moved that he be impeached for the abuse of power and corruption. While on trial, he appeared in numerous television shows, mainly to help his financial situation. He was eventually sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2011, which stands despite appeals.
For his personal life, it is known that Blagojevich has been married to Patricia Mell since 1990, and they have two children.
