Former Illinois US Rep and ex-con Jesse Jackson Jr. has asked a judge for permission to sell the $2million home his estranged wife and their kids live in, because he can’t afford to maintain her unemployed lifestyle.
Jesse Jr. and Sandra ‘Sandi’ Jackson, a former Alderwoman, pleaded guilty to various charges including mail fraud and filing false tax returns in 2013, after being caught spending $750,000 in campaign money on personal purchases, and served prison sentences.
The couple — who have a son, 14, and daughter, 17 — are in the midst of an acrimonious divorce after more than 26 years of marriage.
Jesse Jackson Jr. (in 2013) has filed court documents requesting that a judge allow him to sell the $2million Washington, DC home his estranged, unemployed wife, Sandi Jackson (left) lives in, because he cannot afford to pay to maintain her lifestyle anymore
New court filings revealed that Jesse Jr. pays $5,100 per month on alimony, child support, school fees and voluntary payments for his two children, but that Sandi refuses to pay the mortgage on the Washington, DC house and doesn’t have the money to buy him out, theChicago Tribune reported.
Jesse Jr., 52, has said that he and his wife are in $1.8million worth of debt and that his $125,000 in annual workers’ compensation and disability payments — funded by taxpayers, following his 2012 resignation from the US House of Representatives — is not enough to cover expenses.
Jesse Jr. cited health problems as among the reasons for his resignation and it was reported that he had been treated for bipolar disorder earlier in the year.
Court documents stated that the house’s second mortgage is in arrears and that Jesse Jr. receives ‘weekly calls from the lender’ about the possibility of foreclosure on the property, which Sandi’s mother also lives in.
The filing stated: ‘Sandra is currently unemployed and has refused to obtain employment to financially contribute to the parties’ expenses or make efforts at becoming self-supporting.’
This home in Washington DC’s Dupont Circle is believed to be the house that Jesse Jr. has asked for permission to sell
The Jacksons (in 2013) have been engaged in a bitter divorce since 2016, following more than 26 years of marriage. They couple have two children, ages 14 and 17
Jesse Jr (in 1995) has said he is in $1.8million debt and currently pays Sandi (center) $5,100 in alimony. If he is allowed to sell the house, he said his kids can temporarily move into a home owned by his father, Jesse Jackson Sr. (far right)
Jesse Jr.’s lawyers said that should he be allowed to sell the $2million home, his two kids could temporarily move into a home that his father, Jesse Jackson Sr., owns in Washington DC. Jesse Jr. himself lives in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood.
Sandi, 54, is said to be opposing the home’s sale.
The house is believed to be the same property in Dupont Circle that the couple had put up for sale in 2013 with a $2.5million price tag.
Jesse Jr.’s lawyer told the Chicago Tribune that Jesse Jr. ‘deeply regrets’ needing to sell off the DC home, but that it’s now necessary because neither Jesse Jr. nor Sandi can ‘maintain a luxury home and standard of living in 2018 as if this was 2008.’
In addition to serving a two-and-a-half year prison sentence, beginning in October 2013, Jesse Jr. was ordered to payback the $750,000 worth of campaign money to the government. Sandi, meanwhile, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, and ordered to pay $22,000 in restitution.