ComEd bribery trial
Four power players are accused of trying to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to benefit ComEd. The four have pleaded not guilty, and their trial is likely to explore the line between legal lobbying and criminal activity.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed charges against Exelon and ComEd, but their charges will be settled for $46.2 million.
Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore contested the move to suspend her law license, but the state Supreme Court ruled against her.
Anne Pramaggiore went toe-to-toe with Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker, who questioned Pramaggiore for around two and a half hours and challenged the assertions Pramaggiore made Monday on the witness stand.
Anne Pramaggiore testifies in her defense that she was unaware that the contractors hired by the utility through Jay Doherty’s company had connections to the ex- speaker.
Anne Pramaggiore will face more questions when the ComEd bribery trial resumes Monday, when she will surely face vigorous cross-examination by prosecutors in the high-stakes case.
Prosecutors called three dozen witnesses over four weeks as they sought to prove four former political players conspired to bribe Madigan by arranging for jobs, contracts and money for his allies.
‘Understand this, that I control that contract,’ Edward Moody says he was told by Madigan. ‘If you stop doing your political work, you’ll lose that contract.’
The testimony capped the fourth week in the ComEd bribery trial. Prosecutors have presented nearly all of their evidence and predict they will rest their case by Tuesday.
The ex-speaker’s comment that ‘Some of these guys made out like bandits’ did not refer to the $1.3 million involved in the current trial, defense argued. A judge agreed.
In 2019, agents searched homes of allies of ex-Speaker Michael Madigan, seizing documents and finding none showing any work was done in exchange for payment.
Prosecutors present recordings showing Madigan confidant Michael McClain didn’t trust incoming utility boss Joseph Dominguez, a former federal prosecutor.
In a trial exploring the difference between political favors and criminal conduct, Fidel Marquez was asked whether his deal to become a fed informant was a bribe.
Former ComEd exec had been questioned over three days by federal prosecutors as they detailed the many ways the company allegedly tried to bribe former House Speaker Michael Madigan to benefit ComEd.
Listen to recordings collected by the FBI played in the ComEd bribery trial. The list will be updated with new audio and transcripts as the trial develops.
Prosecution key witness Fidel Marquez, a former ComEd VP, spent hours testifying Tuesday about fielding constant requests to find jobs for people pushed by former House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Fidel Marquez took the stand at the ComEd bribery trial as prosecutors presented FBI recordings and internal ComEd documents showing hundreds of thousands of dollars went to alleged ghost payrollers of the utility.
Will Cousineau took the witness stand after securing letters from the feds granting him immunity and making clear he’s not a target of an investigation. Then he listened as prosecutors played a December 2018 call he’d participated in and which was secretly recorded by the FBI.
“I understand we have a lot of people walking around trying to find things to complain about,” Madigan is heard saying at the meeting. “Every once in a while, the speaker gets to do what he wants to do.”
Four former political power players are charged in a scheme to bribe Michael Madigan when he was Illinois’ powerful House speaker by arranging for jobs, contracts and money for Madigan’s allies.
ComEd’s former general counsel said he was told to sign the law firm of political operative Victor Reyes to an unusual three-year contract guaranteeing Reyes’ firm 850 hours of legal work a year.
When asked what Madigan valued most in other legislators, state Rep. Robert “Bob” Rita answered, “loyalty.”
‘We felt this went beyond goodwill to “intent to influence,”’ said the jury foreperson, Sarah Goldenberg, a 34-year-old data analyst.
‘This guilty on all charges verdict has proven what Republicans have already known. We need real ethics reform,’ Illinois House Republican Leader Tony McCombie said at a news conference in Springfield after the verdict.
After six weeks of trial, 12 jurors are considering the merits of the case that ended former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s record-breaking grip on power.
Four former political power players are accused of arranging for jobs, contracts and money for Madigan allies in an illegal bid to sway Madigan on legislation crucial to ComEd. Their trial is in its seventh week, and jurors could begin deliberating Tuesday.
The jury will have a mountain of evidence to sort through. Jurors heard from about 50 witnesses over five weeks, saw piles of emails and heard a cache of secret FBI recordings that form the backbone of the feds’ case.
For the first time Thursday, jurors in the bribery trial of Michael McClain and three other political power players heard Madigan’s voice on secret recordings.
The opening statements Wednesday kicked off the highly anticipated trial of Madigan confidant Michael McClain, ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty.
Public can hear recordings of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan after challenge by Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ.
Jurors at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse are expected to get a close-up look at how Springfield operated in the last decade when four political power players head to trial.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber said releasing the recordings to the public would “sensationalize the trial more than we want.”
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