CHICAGO - United States Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias released the following statement reiterating his campaign's donation of contributions to a variety of local non-profit organizations:

"As my campaign said yesterday, I am shocked and appalled by the news reports of the Giannis family's alleged horrible scheme to defraud banks in Chicago including my family's bank. Upon learning all of this, I instructed my campaign immediately to donate all campaign contributions from these individuals to non-profit organizations.

"While we're on the subject of returning donations, Mark Kirk has yet to answer if he is going to give back the nearly $3 million in contributions from the corporate special interests and Wall Street CEOs that fund his campaign in return for his repeated votes to protect their exorbitant bonuses. Like a typical Washington insider, he lapped up their dollars and then voted their way, whether it's opposing the TARP Reform and Accountability Act or trying to block the creation of a much-needed Consumer Finance Protection Agency. As much as he tries, Mark Kirk can not escape his anti-consumer, pro-corporate special interest record."