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‘We are tired of political corruption,’ juror says after convicting four in ComEd bribery case

Posted in ComEd Four, Deception, Politics, Springfield, Taxes on May 3, 2023| 1 Comment »

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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.

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Jury convicts all four defendants of bribery-related counts in ComEd 4 trial

Posted in ComEd Four, Crime, Politics, Springfield on May 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

ComEd APA federal jury on Tuesday convicted four top lobbyists and executives at a state-regulated utility in Illinois’ highest-profile corruption case since former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted 13 years ago.

The jury convicted the defendants on all counts in the case in which prosecutors 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 longtime former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s support for legislation that would benefit the utility’s bottom line.

Pramaggiore lives in suburban Barrington and McClain lives in Quincy. McClain’s wife and sons were in the courtroom when the verdict was read.

The judge must impose reasonable sentences under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

A judge sentenced Blagojevich to 14 years in federal prison. Then-President Donald Trump commuted Blagojevich’s sentence in 2020 after the former governor had been in prison for almost eight years.

At trial, prosecutors presented secretly recorded videos, wiretapped phone calls and hundreds of emails to show how the four former Commonwealth Edison executives and lobbyists were what they called “the grandmasters of corruption.” Prosecutors alleged 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 state’s largest electric utility.

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Federal jury begins deliberating ComEd bribery case after prosecutors call four defendants ‘grand masters of corruption’

Posted in ComEd Four, Politics, Resident Spotlights, Springfield on April 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

ComEd AP

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.

Federal jurors have begun to deliberate the case against four former political power players who were labeled Tuesday “grand masters of corruption” for their alleged conspiracy to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan to benefit ComEd.

The deliberations come after six weeks of trial. Jurors heard from about 50 witnesses. And they heard a cache of secret FBI recordings resulting from an aggressive probe dating back to 2014 aimed at the once-powerful Southwest Side Democrat.

Now, the fate of four people who once had special access to Madigan is in the hands of 12 jurors, who will consider the merits of the case that ended Madigan’s record-breaking grip on power.

Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty are accused of arranging for jobs, contracts and money for Madigan allies. The feds say the decade-long conspiracy amounted to an illegal bid to sway Madigan as legislation crucial to ComEd moved through Springfield.

Madigan is charged with racketeering in a separate indictment and faces trial in April 2024. He gave up the speaker’s gavel in January 2021, two months after a grand jury handed up the indictment that triggered the current trial.

Jurors retired to begin their deliberations at 3:01 p.m. Tuesday after listening to roughly eight hours of closing arguments. The final pitches were made Tuesday, first by attorneys for Hooker and Doherty, and then by Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, section chief of public corruption and organized crime.

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A key meeting with the feds takes center stage in Pramaggiore cross-examination

Posted in ComEd Four, Politics, Resident Spotlights on April 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Anne Pramaggiore

Anne Pramaggiore finished her testimony in her own defense Tuesday, but not before prosecutors cast a skeptical light on her contention that she didn’t know Commonwealth Edison lobbyist Jay Doherty had subcontractors on his payroll until the federal probe of the company and its ties to House Speaker Michael Madigan came to light.

Under cross-examination, the former ComEd CEO — a defendant in the “ComEd Four” trial along with Doherty and lobbyists Michael McClain and John Hooker — held to her story that she had no knowledge that Doherty paid associates of Madigan under his lobbying contract with ComEd in return for little or no work.

Questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker, Pramaggiore was asked about when she met with the FBI and government lawyers in September 2019. In that meeting — a “proffer” session in which she promised to tell the truth in return for not having any evidence she presented used against her — Pramaggiore told the feds she didn’t remember anything about the Doherty arrangements. She then was played the intercepted call from February 2019 between her and Fidel Marquez, ComEd’s senior internal lobbyist, in which he told her about Doherty’s no-work subcontracts.

The meeting with the feds, attended also by Pramaggiore attorney Scott Lassar, himself a former U.S. attorney for Illinois’ Northern District, then ended, apparently abruptly. After a sidebar in which lawyers for each side jostled about whether and how that meeting with the feds would be discussed, Pramaggiore testified, “It was the end of the day, yes. The interview was over.”

“You and your counsel ended the interview, correct?” Streicker asked.

Lassar immediately objected and said she’d violated the judge’s instructions. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber directed the jury to disregard that question.

But the seed had been planted — Lassar apparently thought the call when it was played was damaging enough that he ended Pramaggiore’s session with the feds before they were done with her.

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‘We weren’t bribing Speaker Madigan’: Ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore back on witness stand in her own defense in ‘ComEd Four’ case

Posted in ComEd Four, Deception, Ethics, Politics, Resident Spotlights, Springfield, Topics Of Interest on April 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Defendant and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore walks down Dearborn Street after exiting the U.S. Dirksen Courthouse in downtown Chicago following the first day of the “ComEd Four” bribery conspiracy trial on March 14, 2023. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Near the end of a long day of animated testimony Monday, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore’s voice grew quiet.

The jury in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial had just heard for the second time a wiretapped recording on which she told a close associate of then-House Speaker Michael Madigan, “You take good care of me, and so does our friend, and I will do the best that I can to, to take care of you.”

It’s a comment prosecutors have held up as real-time evidence of a scheme to bribe the powerful Democratic speaker, complete with a coded reference to Madigan and seemingly imbued with pay-to-play politics.

But Pramaggiore testified her comments in that September 2018 call with Michael McClain have a totally innocent explanation.

Asked why she said Madigan took “good care” of her, Pramaggiore said she wasn’t talking about it in “the legislative sense,” but perhaps about when the speaker had helped find her son volunteer work years earlier.

She also said that by referencing Madigan as “our friend” she was just trying to placate McClain.

“Mike reveres the speaker, and I would often mention him in our conversations in order to enhance our relationship,” Pramaggiore told the jury.

The exchange marked a day in which Pramaggiore methodically denied each of the allegations against her in the hot-button political corruption case, which is now in its sixth week.

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Ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore takes stand in own defense, says Speaker Madigan cared most about ‘staying speaker’

Posted in ComEd Four, Resident Spotlights, Riding Club of Barrington Hills on April 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore exits the U.S. Dirksen Courthouse in downtown Chicago after testifying in her own defense on the 18th day of the “ComEd Four” bribery conspiracy trial, April 13, 2023. (Shanna Madison / Chicago Tribune)

Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, the theater major from Ohio who rose to become one of the top female executives in the country, sounded Thursday like she could’ve been speaking at a City Club luncheon.

She was polished and engaging, spinning interesting anecdotes about her unlikely rise in Illinois’ male-dominated, sharp-elbowed corporate world. She sprinkled in appropriately timed humor. She held her audience in rapt attention.

The difference was Pramaggiore wasn’t delivering her remarks from a podium to a crowd of hundreds of Chicago movers and shakers.

It was from a federal witness stand, and she had a target audience of 12.

In a highly anticipated moment, Pramaggiore, 64, took the stand Thursday afternoon in the “ComEd Four” bribery trial, where she and three associates are accused of bribing powerful Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan to advance the utility giant’s legislative agenda in Springfield.

Dressed in a dark sweater and wearing black eyeglasses, Pramaggiore described her relationship with Madigan as “professional” and friendly, but one kept at a bit of a distance.

“He’s a very quiet person, doesn’t say a lot,” she said. “But I did get to know a bit about him. I think we had mutual respect for each other.”

Pramaggiore said from her perspective, what was most important to Madigan was “staying the speaker.” That meant raising money and winning elections to keep his Democratic majority in the House, she said.

“That was sort of where he placed his priorities,” Pramaggiore testified.

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Ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore to take stand in her own defense in ‘ComEd Four’ trial

Posted in ComEd Four, Resident Spotlights on April 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

AP TestFive weeks into her trial over allegations she conspired to bribe House Speaker Michael Madigan, ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, the theater major from Ohio with a knack for public speaking, is facing the most important performance of her life.

Pramaggiore, 64, informed the court on Wednesday that she plans to take the witness stand and testify in her own defense — a rare and often risky move in a high-stakes federal trial. Her lawyer has said her testimony will likely begin Thursday morning and could last into next week.

As the longtime face of ComEd, Pramaggiore, of Barrington, was a rising star in the male-dominated corporate world, and often came across as a brainy mix of business savvy and homespun directness that put people, including public officials, at ease.

But her turn on the witness stand will be unlike any other public speaking she’s ever done, a far cry from the friendly luncheons at the City Club of Chicago, where her emcee, and now co-defendant Jay Doherty, lauded her before every speech.

While Pramaggiore, who has a law degree, will have a chance to charm the jury and perhaps explain some of her statements on the wiretapped calls played in court, she also will be subjected to intense and lengthy cross examination from prosecutors, questioning they’ve likely been preparing for months.

Before the trial began Thursday, prosecutors revealed for the first time that Pramaggiore sat down for what’s known as a “proffer” session with the U.S. attorney’s office in September 2019, leading to a 33-page FBI report of her statements.

Proffer sessions are typically part of an initial exploration of potential cooperation or a guilty plea. The judge ruled that if Pramaggiore testifies inconsistently with her proffer, prosecutors can try to impeach her with the FBI report.

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How ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore went from rising corporate star to defendant in bombshell corruption case

Posted in ComEd Four, Politics, Resident Spotlights, Unions on March 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Anne Pramaggiore, former president and CEO of ComEd, at a news conference at the Illinois Institute of Technology on Jan. 4, 2012, announcing new job growth related to the development of smart grid technology and the opening in Chicago of a Utility Training Center by ComEd. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)

Of all the players in the sprawling ComEd bribery investigation, the powerful politicians, connected lobbyists, precinct captains, consultants and door knockers, it’s the business executive with the background in theater who stands out as miscast in the still-unfolding drama.

Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, a theater major from central Ohio who became a rising star in the male-dominated corporate world, often came off as a brainy mix of business savvy and homespun directness that put people, including public officials, at ease.

Pramaggiore seemingly rose to the challenge when she inherited a massive utility that had been floundering in the late 2000s, with aging infrastructure prone to widespread power outages and growing dissatisfaction from its 3.8 million customers.

But to pull the company up, prosecutors allege, she made a calculated decision to embrace the Springfield power structure, joining forces with then-House Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago and his straight-from-central-casting cronies.

Now, Pramaggiore, 64, finds herself in the most unlikely of roles. She’s among the criminal defendants in one of the biggest political corruption scandals the state has ever seen: “The ComEd Four,” who go on trial this week.

Her indictment in 2020 on allegations that she participated in a widespread scheme to influence Madigan by funneling payments and other perks to his associates capped a fall from grace that left many in Chicago’s business and legal community stunned.

The disconnect between Pramaggiore’s public persona and the actions described in the indictment has only deepened as recently surfaced emails and wiretapped conversations from the investigation portrayed her as someone at ease with Illinois’ old-school, “where’s mine” pay-to-play political system.

In some of the conversations that jurors in the trial will hear, Pramaggiore even adopts the some of the vernacular of her co-defendants, sounding more like a hard-boiled character in an old gangster movie than a button-down chief executive.

“You take good care of me, and so does our friend, and I will do the best that I can to, to take care of you. You’re a good man,” Pramaggiore allegedly told co-defendant Michael McClain in one September 2018 secretly recorded call, referring to Madigan as “our friend” instead of by name.

Pramaggiore, of Barrington, is charged with bribery conspiracy along with McClain, longtime former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker, and Jay Doherty, a consultant, lobbyist and former head of the City Club of Chicago

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