News accounts quoted businessmen who claimed that Jay Wilton, the President of Wilton Partners, encouraged them to donate funds to Blagojevich's 2003 gubernatorial campaign. In December 2003, Wilton Partners reportedly gave Rezko's Panda Express franchise a 50% reduction in its rent at the oases. In January 2007, Wilton stopped making required payments to ISTHA for the oases, and by February 2008, when the back rent grew to $1.4 million, Wilton and ISTHA entered into settlement negotiations. However, in July 2008, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan rejected a proposed settlement where ISTHA would forgo the $1.4 million in back rent in exchange for Wilton dropping a claim of $4.7 million for lost business due to tollway construction. In the spring of 2009, Wilton Partners' lender, iStar Financial, foreclosed on the oases. Subsequently, the court appointed U.S. Equities, a Chicago firm, to manage the oases pending the outcome of the foreclosure. Further, another food vendor operating in all seven oases who donated to Blagojevich has also received press attention for failure to pay sales taxes and state unemployment insurance. In 2010, SFI Chicago Tollway LLC became the oases' operator. In 2012, SFI paid the Tollway $813,000 for a long-term lease to operate all seven oases, excluding the fuel stations and convenience stores operated by 7-Eleven.