Michael Madigan, once the nation’s longest-serving state legislative leader, has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison on federal bribery and wire fraud convictions, thus bringing to a close one of the largest corruption cases in recent Illinois history. U.S. District Judge John Blakey handed down the sentence Friday, four months after the former Illinois House speaker was convicted of 10 felony charges. Blakey found that Madigan acted as the “central command post” of the largest bribery scheme he was accused in involving utility giant Commonwealth Edison, and repeatedly perjured himself while testifying at trial in an attempt to conceal his guilt and mislead the jury.
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“It was a nauseating display … of perjury and evasion,” Blakey said, calling Madigan’s testimony hard to watch at times. “You lied sir. You lied. You did not have to." Blakey also hit Madigan with a fine of $2.5 million — the maximum allowable under the guidelines — as part of his sentence. Madigan exited the courthouse without comment following the hearing. He is scheduled to turn himself in to begin his sentence Oct. 13. Madigan represented the 22nd District on Chicago’s Southwest Side for 50 years, spent decades chairing the Illinois Democratic Party and served as Illinois’ House speaker for 36 years before he retired in 2021 amid expanding corruption allegations that swirled around him and his 13th Ward political operation. He was indicted the following year. Madigan briefly addressed the court Friday, saying that being speaker was not the most important part of his life, but rather it was being a husband, father and grandfather. He asked Blakey to “let me spend my final days with my family.” “I’m truly sorry for putting the people of the state of Illinois through this,” Madigan said. “I tried to do my best to serve the people of the state of Illinois. I am not perfect.” Madigan and his codefendant and longtime ally Michael McClain were accused of orchestrating five separate corruption schemes, wielding the speaker’s immense political power to reward loyal allies and enrich himself.
The Charges
Madigan was ultimately found guilty on 10 of 23 total counts, with his convictions centering on two of those schemes: his efforts to secure a valuable state board position for disgraced former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis, and his bribery efforts involving ComEd. In the most wide-ranging of those schemes, Madigan and McClain were accused of arranging subcontractor jobs for several of the former speaker’s associates with ComEd, which paid them $1.3 million even as they did little or no actual work. ComEd execs allegedly hired the “ghost” workers in order to win over Madigan’s support on critical energy legislation in Springfield. Already, McClain and three other utility officials were convicted of conspiring to bribe Madigan in the 2023 “ComEd Four” trial. Blakey on Friday found that the increase to shareholder value ComEd expected to receive through legislation connected to the bribery scheme was worth at least $400 million. Jurors at the four-month trial listened to scores of recorded conversations, captured either through a government wiretap or by cooperating witnesses including Solis, who acted as an undercover mole in order to avoid his own prison sentence on separate corruption charges. But Madigan dodged the top count — racketeering conspiracy — and the jury deadlocked or acquitted him on 13 counts in total. McClain was not convicted on any charge. After Blakey handed his sentence down Friday, prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges against Madigan on which the jury deadlocked, meaning he will not be re-tried on those counts. Prosecutors last month called on Blakey to sentence the former speaker to a term of 12.5 years in a federal prison. “Corruption at the highest level of the state legislature tears at the fabric of a vital governing body,” Andrew Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a statement Friday. “Our Office and our partners remain steadfast in our commitment to vigorously prosecute corruption at all levels of government and hold public officials accountable for violating the public trust.”
The Defense
Madigan’s defense team has called that sentence recommendation “draconian,” saying such a term would condemn the 83-year-old “to die behind bars for crimes that enriched him not one penny.” They instead requested a sentence of probation. They reiterated Friday their belief that the former speaker is not guilty of each count he faces, including those on which he was ultimately convicted. The ex-speaker’s attorneys called him a “good man” who has “selflessly done an exceptional amount of good for others.” Regardless of any prison sentence, they said he will no doubt face consequences as he’ll be “forever marked by a public humiliation so complete it has rewritten his legacy.” More than 200 people submitted letters on Madigan’s behalf — including friends, family, neighbors, legislators, attorneys and religious leaders — describing him as a “scrupulous rule follower,” “an honorable and good man,” and someone with “steely integrity.” His daughter, former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, described him as “meticulously ethical and honest.” “Mike is also someone whose word you could trust,” she wrote in her letter. “He is truthful. Sometimes I liked what he said and other times not, but I knew he was being honest and would keep his word. That was not always the case with people in and around the legislature.” But that image is at odds with the Madigan who appeared “steeped in corruption,” according to prosecutors, as he repeatedly exploited his own power by trading his office for personal gain. “At the very pinnacle of power in state government, defendant Michael Madigan exploited his position to enrich himself and his associates,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker said Friday. Throughout his career, Madigan presented himself as a politician who worked for the people, but Streicker said the trial pulled back the curtain and revealed he instead was working in his own best interest. Streicker quoted Judge James Zagel, who sentenced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to 14 years following his corruption conviction, in citing the harm the governor had done to the “fabric of Illinois.” But, Streicker said, the damage done by Madigan was even worse. “Governors, they came and went over the years,” she said. “But Madigan stayed, his power and his presence remained constant.” Prosecutors have argued that not only has Madigan refused to show any remorse for his actions, they claim he also lied repeatedly on the witness stand to avoid any accountability and instead frame his actions simply as helping those who needed him. “When people ask me for help, if possible, I tried to help them,” he said as he opened his testimony back in January. Madigan’s defense team on Friday argued that a guilty verdict alone is not enough to prove Madigan lied on the stand, and that prosecutors provided no additional evidence to show he willfully committed perjury. The famously reserved speaker spent parts of four days on the witness stand at trial, detailing for jurors his upbringing in Chicago, early political career and eventual move into power. But during that time, prosecutors claim he perjured himself repeatedly by rejecting the notion he traded his public office for private gain and minimizing his relationship with McClain, whom he’d been close with for decades. “Any consideration of Madigan’s character must include the fact that, when faced with recordings of his own statements, and with his back against the wall, Madigan chose to testify and lie to protect himself,” Streicker wrote. Blakey agreed with the prosecution’s arguments, finding Madigan did indeed lie while testifying to conceal his role in the ComEd bribery scheme and mislead jurors about his friendship and professional relationship with McClain. Blakey also found Madigan perjured himself when testifying about the state board seat. Madigan claimed he never actually intended to recommend Solis for that position, despite a recorded conversation between the men played during trial which showed Madigan telling Solis he planned to do exactly that. “This case is really sad because the defendant is a dedicated public servant, apart from the crimes proven in this case,” Blakey said in handing down the sentence. “He had no reason to commit these crimes, but he chose to do so. Apart from them, he is a good and decent person."
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