Steve Fanady, a disabled options trader, has spent the past four years confined in solitary at Cook County Jail without a criminal conviction, according to a recent investigation. His detention arises from a civil contempt order related to a 17-year-old divorce case rather than criminal charges such as murder, robbery, or fraud.

The divorce, finalized in 2011 after a four-year marriage that produced no children, awarded Fanady disputed stock holdings valued at about $2 million. Fanady contends he sold the stocks years ago. His former wife comes from a wealthy, well-connected family on Chicago’s North Shore, while Fanady is the son of Greek refugees. The contested investment was established before the marriage.

Fanady’s incarceration surpasses the duration served by former 14th Ward Alderman Ed Burke following his corruption conviction, and it may soon exceed Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s federal sentence. Civil contempt law allows detention solely as a means of compelling compliance, not as punishment. However, Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Forti has extended Fanady’s detention without holding an evidentiary hearing to determine whether continued incarceration remains coercive or has become punitive.

The court’s contempt finding is based on the value of the stock in 2021—roughly $10 million—rather than current holdings. No evidence has been presented to establish that Fanady currently retains any property that could be used to satisfy the judgment. Fanady’s legal team argues that his detention orders have expired and that Judge Forti has failed to conduct the periodic compliance-status hearings mandated by local rules and due process requirements. It remains unclear what assets, if any, Fanady could produce at this stage.

During his detention, Fanady has missed the funerals of his parents and has had no contact with his 13-year-old daughter from another marriage. He also reports not having seen sunlight in four years. Supporters assert that such conditions amount to punishment, which civil contempt is not intended to impose.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office has retained private attorneys to oppose Fanady’s release on electronic monitoring, despite provisions in Illinois’ SAFE-T Act designed to allow many criminal defendants to remain free pretrial. Fanady continues to bear the burden of proving that he no longer possesses the assets the court ordered him to produce, while remaining incarcerated without any criminal charge.