Building owner OK'd Trump administration's raid of Chicago apartment complex, court records show

[Munu]

Building owner OK’d Trump administration’s raid of Chicago apartment complex, court records show
Chicago Sun-Times

Federal agents carried out a military-style raid on a South Shore apartment complex last fall with the permission of the building’s owner and manager, according to new court filings that appear to confirm residents’ suspicions and corroborate key allegations driving a state investigation.

The Trump administration has claimed the squalid building was a magnet for criminals and Venezuelan gang members, but the court records filed Tuesday indicate the harrowing raid was actually based on intelligence that “illegal aliens were unlawfully occupying apartments in the building.”

Arrest reports for two of the 37 people detained in the overnight raid at 7500 S. South Shore Drive were included in a motion filed Tuesday in a federal court case accusing immigration agents of making unlawful arrests.

The made-for-TV sacking of the building on Sept. 30 became an early flashpoint of Operation Midway Blitz, the monthslong deportation campaign targeting the Chicago area last year.

Federal agents descended on the 130-unit complex from helicopters and used flashbang grenades to burst through doors. Residents reported seeing men, women and children pulled from apartments and zip-tied, some of them naked.

Some U.S. citizens reported being detained for hours. But one man, who helped neighbors hide, was left undisturbed by the feds, prompting questions about what the heavily-armed agents knew about the building and its residents prior to the raid.

The new arrest reports show the building’s owner, Trinity Flood, and property manager, Corey Oliver, gave “verbal and written consent” to search the building. Agents only checked units “not legally rented or leased at the time,” according to the reports.

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[Prairie Gates]

1. These fucking clowns used CBP and ICE to evict some squatters?

And CBP and ICE of course took the opportunity for their little cosplay made-for-teevee operation?

In a lot of other countries, everyone involved would go to prison for this.

[Prairie Gates]

2. And the plot thickens: the company (Trinity Flood) was in financial distress over these buildings

months before the raid!

Trinity Flood has been swept up in a deluge of financial distress tied to Chicago real estate.

The Wisconsin-based investor that paid $18 million for a trio of South Shore multifamily properties in 2020 is facing a $27 million foreclosure lawsuit for failing to make loan payments on the deal, public records show.

Flood also purchased three properties in Georgia and one in Arizona with a $25.3 million loan that was later packaged up with other real estate debt and sold off to commercial mortgage-backed securities investors. The landlord is now in danger of losing all 354 units, including 208 in South Shore, in the foreclosure lawsuit.

It’s the latest portfolio in South Side neighborhoods to fall into default on a big loan for a purchase between 2020 and 2022 at prices that signaled rising speculation yet failed to materialize into profits for some investors, particularly those who ended up with buildings needing substantial repairs.

The loan wasn’t scheduled to mature until 2030, indicating there’s been significant financial difficulty in making interest payments from rent revenues.

https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2025/04/07/trinity-flood-faces-foreclosure-for-chicago-multifamily/