Take the Money and Run

We guess Vanecko recouped his money and then some. Might as well leave the union pension funds holding the bag:

• Mayor Daley's nephew Robert Vanecko says he no longer has a financial stake in a real estate investment firm he co-founded that got deals to manage $68 million for five city pension funds.

• Asked by a Chicago Sun-Times reporter last week about DV Urban and the city pension business, Vanecko responded with an e-mail saying he no longer has any financial interest in the company -- and that he won't get any money if the company's troubled real estate investments one day turn a profit.

• Since January 2007, Vanecko and Davis have collected a total of more than $3.7 million in fees from the city pension funds: over $2.1 million in management fees, $1.3 million in development fees and $353,700 in property management fees for overseeing two apartment buildings and an office building bought with pension money.

And since they allegedly only put in $2.6 million of their "own" money, Vanecko and Davis walk away with a cool $1.1 million in "fees" for their investment in just under 3 years. Our funds get stuck with a bunch of property that has declined precipitously in value.

Not bad work if you can get it.