UPDATE: Orland Park minister, Chicago publicist post bail
The southwest suburban minister indicted with former President Donald Trump and 17 others last week on charges related to attempts to overthrow election results in Georgia has reached a bond agreement and plans to surrender to authorities on Friday.
Stephen Lee, a 70-year-old Lutheran minister, and Trevian Kutti, a Chicago publicist, were both charged for their alleged involvement in a scheme to pressure an election worker in Fulton County, Georgia, to falsely admit to committing election fraud in 2020.
David Shestokas, an attorney representing Lee, said a bond agreement has been reached with Fulton County authorities, and Lee will turn himself in on Friday morning, the deadline for defendants to voluntarily surrender. Lee’s bond has been set at $75,000.
But Shestokas said he still contends a $75,000 bond for Lee isn’t reasonable.
“I think that’s an excessive bond. He’s a pastor. These are not folks that do things to get wealthy,” Shestokas said. “There’s no reason to believe he’s a flight risk. I advised them that he is not a wealthy man and wouldn’t be able to make bond.”
Kutti and Lee each face three charges of conspiring to commit solicitation of false statements and writings, influencing witnesses and violating Georgia’s RICO Act, the state’s racketeering law.
Lee was charged with an additional two counts of “criminal intent to commit influencing witnesses.”
They are two of the 19 people charged in the 41-count indictment accusing Trump and his allies of a criminal enterprise to overturn his narrow loss in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election.
Kutti is a publicist based in Chicago who worked with R. Kelly and Kanye West and recently was an Illinois pot lobbyist. Lee is a pastor at Living Word Lutheran Church in Orland Park.
Trevian Kutti, a high-profile communications specialist and crisis manager, poses for a portrait in the Gold Coast in 2020.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file
Kutti declined to comment on Wednesday. She has yet to reach a bond agreement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Lee will be expected to meet the standard conditions of bond, including no contact with witnesses or other defendants.
Shestokas said he plans to continue fighting the bond amount on Friday in Georgia.
Shestokas ran for the Republican nomination for Illinois attorney general last year and served on Trump’s legal team in Pennsylvania.
Orland Park attorney David Shestokas and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in Williamsport, Pa., in November of 2020.
Of the 19 people indicted, 13 have reached bond agreements, six have surrendered to Fulton County jail and posted bond and five have yet to reach any agreement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Trump’s bail was set at $200,000, the highest amount for any defendant from the indictment so far.
Shestokas said Georgia authorities had not been in touch with Lee since last November when he was asked to testify in the Fulton County special grand jury investigation. He successfully fought off the subpoena.
“It was quite a shock. We were literally astounded to wake up and find out he was a defendant in the indictment,” Shestokas said.
Stephen Lee, a 70-year-old Lutheran minister, gives an endorsement speech in 2021 for Republican James Marter, who ran for Congress in Illinois’ 14th District.
Screenshot from Youtube
Kutti and Lee were accused of attempting to influence the same election worker multiple times in December 2020 and January 2021 in Fulton County, Georgia.
The indictment alleges Kutti and Lee tried to intimidate election worker Ruby Freeman to falsely confess to election crimes she did not commit.
Kutti and Lee showed up at Freeman’s home multiple times pretending to offer help in December 2020 and January 2021 in Fulton County, Georgia, according to the charges.
