(The Center Square) – Prosecutors say the “Make Mike Madigan Money Plan” helped the former Illinois House speaker’s law firm gain profits.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur coined the phrase during closing arguments Thursday afternoon at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.
Madigan served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021 and was speaker for all but two years between 1983 and 2021. He chaired the Democratic Party of Illinois from 1998 to 2021.
Madigan has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of corruption.
MacArthur discussed Madigan’s efforts to gain business for his private law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner.
MacArthur said Madigan was using then-Chicago Alderman Daniel Solis as a connector to line up meetings with developers before Solis began cooperating with the government.
“Madigan used Solis’ official position as an alderman and chairman of the zoning committee to gain private benefits for himself,” MacArthur said. “That’s where the profits were for his firm.”
“The Make Mike Madigan Money Plan had nothing to to with labor, with unions … with constituents,” MacArthur continued.
MacArthur said Count 15 of the indictment involves an attempted extortion charge against Madigan, which is related to the Union West development in Chicago.
The veteran prosecutor replayed the wiretapped phone call from 2017, when Solis, who was cooperating with the government at the time, told Madigan he understood how it worked, “the quid pro quo.”
MacArthur noted that Solis’ statement did not provoke any immediate reaction from Madigan in protest.
Madigan later advised Solis not to talk that way at a meeting that was secretly videotaped on July 18, 2017.
“Three weeks for Madigan to challenge in some way, some form, the words Solis had used,” MacArthur said.
MacArthur said Counts 19-22 against both Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain involve the Chicago Chinatown parcel and land transfer legislation in 2017 and 2018.
“Madigan supported the transfer of this property because he wanted the real estate tax business from the developer,” MacArthur said. “This was a fraud, this was a scheme to defraud.”
MacArthur said it doesn’t matter that the Chinatown project did not move forward.
“The government does not have to prove that a scheme to defraud actually succeeded,” MacArthur reminded the jury.
MacArthur played a call from McClain to Madigan legal counsel Justin Cox on May 28, 2018, and said the call demonstrated that Madigan and McClain were working together and that McClain was “all in” to try to get the land transfer bill passed.
MacArthur said Madigan’s move to “put a brick” on a land transfer bill sponsored by state Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, after Bourne did not agree to add the Chinatown parcel as an amendment constituted official action by the speaker.
When Madigan sought to have state Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago, add the Chinatown amendment, MacArthur said a call between Madigan and McClain to find another legislative sponsor proved legislative misconduct.
“We have proved that beyond a reasonable doubt,” MacArthur said.
MacArthur is expected to discuss charges against Madigan related to state board appointments on Friday morning. After she finishes, Dan Collins is slated to provide closing arguments on behalf of Madigan.
Chicago attorney Sam Adam Jr. represented Rod Blagojevich in the former Illinois governor’s first corruption trial in 2010. Adam said he worked with Collins and his colleagues, Tom Breen and Todd Pugh, in separate trials not involving Madigan.
“In this case, with Collins and with Breen and Pugh, they are excellent. I’ve tried cases with them. I’ve seen them. They have a way of explaining complicated legal issues to regular people, and that’s what you’re going to need in a case like Mr. Madigan’s case,” Adam told The Center Square.
Adam described Madigan’s defense team as “awesome.”
“As my dad used to tell me as a kid, there are no such things as great lawyers. There are only great facts and good lawyers to bring those facts out,” Adam said.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins was one of the lead prosecutors in former Illinois Gov. George Ryan’s corruption trial in 2005 and 2006.
“On the defense side, you have very seasoned lawyers. Dan Collins, no relation to me, you have him, you have Tom Breen. You have lawyers who have gone through the battles and have rapport with the jury, and we’ll see how all that plays out,” Collins told The Center Square.
Before lunch Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz displayed graphics which connected the timing of ComEd’s legislative successes with the utility’s payments to Madigan allies. Schwartz cited Madigan’s votes on the ComEd bills as evidence of the former speaker’s official action related in Count 2 of the indictment. She presented evidence and reminded jurors of testimony that Madigan worked to get additional votes in favor of the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2016.
Schwartz also mentioned legislation Madigan blocked.
“Even if Madigan couldn’t guarantee that a bill would pass, he could certainly guarantee its demise,” Schwartz said.
In the 2023 ComEd Four trial, McClain and three others were convicted of conspiracy, bribery and falsifying records. The four were accused of participating in a multi-year scheme to benefit themselves and their associates by using Madigan’s office to help ComEd with favorable legislation.
ComEd agreed to pay $200 million in fines as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. The utility admitted it paid $1.3 million over nine years to Madigan associates for do-nothing or do-little jobs and contracts.
Schwartz reminded the jury how close McClain and Madigan were.
“These two worked hand in glove,” Schwartz said, adding, “Madigan well knew what McClain was doing.”
Schwartz discussed conspiratorial liability in Counts 3-7 of the indictment. She said Count 3 involves Juan Ochoa’s board seat with ComEd, Counts 4 and 6 involve ComEd’s payments to Madigan allies, and Counts 5 and 7 involve use of a facility to promote unlawful activity.
Schwartz closed her presentation with Count 23, the bribery conspiracy charge against both Madigan and McClain, which involved AT&T’s 2017 payments to former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago.
“Eddie Acevedo did no work for the company … at a time AT&T needed Madigan the most,” Schwartz said, referring to carrier-of-last-resort (COLR) legislation the company desired.
“Acevedo was a sham consultant. AT&T didn’t need to hire him. They didn’t want to hire him,” Schwartz continued.
“Madigan controlled this hire,” Schwartz said, adding that AT&T knew it was a bribe, “because it was a bribe.”
In 2022, AT&T agreed to pay $23 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the government.
Former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes suffered a setback separate from the former speaker’s trial on Thursday.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, D-Chicago, issued a statement saying she agreed with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s opinion that Mapes’ state pension should be forfeited.
“As I have stated all along, it is my personal opinion that anyone convicted of violating the public trust should be stripped of their taxpayer-funded pension.
The last pension payment the Illinois Office of Comptroller made to Tim Mapes was in February 2024 – following his sentencing, in accordance with the State Employees’ Retirement System procedures – at an annual rate of more than $154,000.
“If the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) Executive Board approves the recommendation and that recommendation comes before the SERS board, which I chair, I absolutely will vote to end Mapes’ state pension,” Mendoza stated.
On Feb. 12, 2024, U.S. District Court Judge John Kness sentenced Mapes to 30 months in prison for perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury investigating Madigan and others.
Mendoza served in the Illinois House from 2001 to 2011 and was considered a Madigan ally during that time.
United States of America vs. Michael Madigan and Michael McClain is scheduled to resume Friday morning at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.