Defendants in the ComEd 4 corruption trial listen as the federal jury reads its verdict. Defendants face up to 20 years in prison; Former House Speaker Madigan faces trial next (Courtroom sketch courtesy of L.D.Chukman)
A jury found four former Commonwealth Edison executives and lobbyists guilty of bribery-related charges Tuesday as part of an eight-year conspiracy scheme centered around former Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
In the highest-profile corruption case in Illinois in more than a decade, the jury convicted the defendants on all counts.
“We’re tired of political corruption,” juror Amanda Schnitker Sayers said after the verdict. “We’re hoping this is a first step.”
The Chicago veterinarian put the blame on Madigan.
“He really did cause this all to happen,” she said.
Although Madigan wasn’t on trial, the longest-serving state legislative leader in U.S. history has been charged with 23 counts of racketeering, bribery and official misconduct in a separate case that could go to trial in April 2024.
Prosecutors had alleged former state lawmaker and lobbyist Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former contract lobbyist Jay Doherty were involved in a multi-year scheme to gain Madigan’s support for legislation that would benefit the utility’s bottom line. McClain will stand trial again with Madigan next year.
At trial, prosecutors presented secretly recorded videos, wiretapped phone calls and hundreds of emails to show how the four former ComEd executives and lobbyists were “the grandmasters of corruption.”
Prosecutors said that the utility paid out $1.3 million in jobs, contracts and payments to associates of Madigan over eight years in exchange for favorable treatment on legislation in Springfield that would affect the finances of the state’s largest electric utility.
Read more here.
Hmmm……….. To this day, George Ryan (if he’s still with us) STILL does not know why he had to go to jail. It was just “business as usual”.