Pritzker admin’s former health official to pay $150,000 for ethics violation

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, former director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, accepted “a violation of the Ethics Act and the facts comprising the violation, in that she accepted employment and compensation from an entity that had contracts involving to IDPH with a cumulative cost.” worth $4.2 million and over which he had exercised regulatory and licensing authority in the year prior to his departure from state employment,” presentation said the Executive Ethics Commission.

Ezike led the IDPH from January 2019 to March 2022, where he facilitated policies the state enacted to combat the spread of the respiratory disease. Those policies, enacted by more than 110 executive orders and two years of consecutive 30-day emergency proclamations by Gov. JB Pritzker, included school and business closures, limiting occupancy in public places, mask mandates and vaccine mandates.

In 2022, Ezike left management to work at Sinai Health System. The ethics complaint filed in October 2023 alleged a violation of ethics laws.

The Ethics Law says that those subject to the law will not accept employment or receive compensation or fees for services from a person or entity for a period of one year if that entity is the subject of state contracts with a value of $25,000 or more, or if The person or entity is subject to state regulation or licensing.

An investigation by the commission found several grants and contracts worth $4.2 million within a year, most of which were two separate $2 million contracts to provide funding to specific hospitals for ordinary and contingent expenses. Sinai was also subject to several regulatory and licensing decisions by the IDPH during that time.

A “mitigation statement” by Attorney General Kwame Raoul released as part of the commission’s findings said Ezike “thought he did everything right.”

“She thought she could take the job,” the document says. “Dr. Ezike accepts responsibility and appreciates the Attorney General’s role in resolving this matter. He also calls on the Commission to recognize the challenges faced by employees navigating the revolving door ban.”