Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, for decades the most powerful politician in the state, was indicted on federal racketeering charges alleging his elected office and political operation were a criminal enterprise that provided personal financial rewards for him and his associates.
A week after he was charged in a bombshell corruption indictment, Madigan, 79, was arraigned in a telephone hearing in U.S. District Court.
The 22-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury comes after a yearslong federal investigation and alleges Madigan participated in an array of bribery and extortion schemes from 2011 to 2019 aimed at using the power of his office for personal gain.
Also charged in the indictment was Madigan’s longtime confidant, Michael McClain, a former state legislator and lobbyist who is facing separate charges alleging he orchestrated an alleged bribery scheme by Commonwealth Edison.
That same alleged scheme forms the backbone of the indictment, outlining a plan by the utility giant to pay thousands of dollars to lobbyists favored by Madigan in order to win his influence over legislation the company wanted passed in Springfield.
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Here’s what to know about the latest in the high-profile political corruption case.
Ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan, long the state’s most powerful politician, indicted on federal racketeering charges
The long-awaited charges punctuate a stunning downfall for Madigan, the longest serving leader of any legislative chamber in the nation who held an ironclad grip on the state legislature as well as the Democratic Party and its political spoils. He was dethroned as speaker in early 2021 as the investigation swirled around him, and soon after resigned the House seat he’d held since 1971.
Both Madigan and his attorneys denied the allegations in written statements Wednesday and said they intended to fight them in court.
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Democrats seek to distance themselves from Michael Madigan as Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledges meeting with feds during investigation
After decades operating Madigan’s shadow, Illinois Democrats on Wednesday sought to distance themselves from the longtime House speaker and state party chairman, even as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office acknowledged the governor had spoken with investigators working the case.
The racketeering and bribery allegations come at the start of an election year in which Pritzker seeks a second term and his fellow Democrats seek to hold on to the supermajorities in the House and Senate that Madigan and his political organization helped build through their ground-level campaign work and control of legislative mapmaking.
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Michael Madigan case a study of how Illinois’ cozy politics morphs into alleged crime
At its core, the alleged bribery scheme involving ex-Speaker Madigan and utility giant Commonwealth Edison is an alarmingly familiar lesson on how often-cozy relationships between business leaders and politicians can catch the attention of federal prosecutors.
Like so many federal corruption probes before it, the case is replete with powerful political characters, bit players, well-connected lobbyists and big-business clout.
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Read Michael Madigan’s indictment on federal racketeering charges
Madigan was indicted on federal racketeering charges alleging an array of bribery schemes aimed at using the power of his office for personal gain. Read the indictment below.
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Ex-Speaker Michael Madigan pleads not guilty to federal racketeering charges in corruption case
A week after he was charged in a bombshell corruption indictment, Madigan was arraigned in a telephone hearing in U.S. District Court on allegations he ran his elected office and political operation as a criminal enterprise that provided personal financial rewards for him and his associates.
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Michael Madigan, under oath: Exclusive video shows reclusive former speaker opening up about ward politics, campaigns and Bruce Rauner
Michael Madigan had largely disappeared from public view after being ousted as House speaker and resigning both his seat and chairmanship of the Illinois Democratic Party a little more than a year ago.
But a video recording of a deposition Madigan gave in a lawsuit unrelated to the ComEd bribery scandal that ultimately ended his reign and forms the backbone of the federal indictment provides a lengthy and insightful look at the famously terse and reclusive politician in action.
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Famously shrewd, Michael Madigan has been indicted. But what did he actually say on tape?
The long-awaited racketeering indictment of Michael Madigan runs some 106 pages, but anyone looking for a quote directly from the former House speaker’s mouth will have to wade through more than half the document before finding one.
On May 16, 2018, Madigan called his longtime confidant Michael McClain and told him “go forward with” a plan to have former McPier boss Juan Ochoa appointed to the Commonwealth Edison board of directors, according to the indictment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
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Attorney for ex-Speaker Michael Madigan says ‘millions and millions’ of documents to be reviewed over next few months
An attorney for former House Speaker Michael Madigan said Friday his team will need to review “millions and millions” of documents over the next several months before deciding on any pretrial motions to be filed in the bombshell racketeering case.
The comment came during a brief status hearing before U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey, the first since Madigan and his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, were charged in an indictment with a yearslong corruption scheme that allegedly leveraged Madigan’s elected office and political power for personal gain.
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Michael Madigan asked Ald. Solis to get son insurance business from Pilsen non-profit
In August 2018, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan asked then-Ald. Daniel Solis to help steer insurance business to Madigan’s own son during a meeting about the alderman’s potential appointment to a lucrative state board position, the Tribune has confirmed.
Madigan’s pitch, which was secretly recorded by Solis, was mentioned in passing in the blockbuster 22-count racketeering indictment filed against Madigan. According to the document, after the discussion about Solis’ possible board appointment, Madigan asked the alderman to “help a relative of Madigan and the relative’s employer obtain business from Organization B,” a Chicago-based community group.
Sources have told the Tribune that the relative was Andrew Madigan, the ex-speaker’s only son, who is an an executive for Alliant Mesirow Insurance. Organization B named in the indictment is The Resurrection Project, a Pilsen-based group that’s received millions of dollars in state funds and political donations from Solis ward organization and other Chicago politicians over the years.
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Michael Madigan’s indictment: How he pushed for allies to get ComEd jobs and his own daughter’s legislation was killed.
Nearly four years ago, legislation that aimed to help low-income electricity customers was making its way to the floor of an Illinois House chamber tightly controlled by its longtime speaker, Michael Madigan.
The bill’s main advocate: Madigan’s daughter, then-Attorney General Lisa Madigan. One of its primary opponents: Commonwealth Edison, the state’s largest electric utility.
By the time the Illinois General Assembly’s spring session was over, ComEd won — because, according to federal prosecutors, Michael Madigan paved the way.
In what may be one of the most intriguing chapters of the federal indictment filed earlier this month against ex-Speaker Madigan, prosecutors alleged he greenlighted efforts to kill his own daughter’s legislation as he pressed ComEd to give jobs to two political allies.
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Federal judge dismisses case that alleged Michael Madigan and Ald. Marty Quinn violated opponent’s civil rights
Despite allegations of using dirty tricks, 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn beat the college kid again — this time in federal court.
U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger this week dismissed a lawsuit brought by David Krupa, who as a 19-year-old DePaul University student ran an upstart campaign for alderman in 2019 but lost. Krupa in the lawsuit accused Quinn and then-Speaker Michael Madigan of violating his civil rights following the alderman’s overly aggressive efforts to keep Krupa off the ballot and defeat him.
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Portion of grand jury testimony by former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes to be made public in obstruction case
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the unsealing of a court filing containing excerpts of grand jury testimony by Tim Mapes, the former chief of staff to House Speaker Michael Madigan who was indicted last year on obstruction of justice charges.
The order by U.S. District Judge John Lee came after Mapes’ attorney, Andrew Porter, filed a motion to dismiss under seal last week out of “an abundance of caution,” since grand jury testimony typically is kept secret.
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Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff was interviewed by FBI as far back as 2019, lawyer reveals in unsealed filing
Michael Madigan was still the most powerful politician in the state when two FBI agents went to Springfield in 2019 and asked his former chief of staff to sit down for coffee, according to a court filing unsealed Wednesday.
Two years later, a memo that the former Madigan staffer, Tim Mapes, wrote to himself about the unusual meeting was shown to him during questioning before a federal grand jury, where Mapes had been granted immunity in exchange for his sworn testimony about his former boss, the filing stated.
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FBI acquires transcript of Michael Madigan deposition and the ex-speaker answering questions under oath in civil case
The FBI has acquired sworn depositions that indicted ex-Speaker Michael Madigan and his former chief of staff gave more than three years ago in a lawsuit accusing Madigan’s campaign organization of propping up sham candidates.
The move represents a new development in the sweeping federal racketeering case federal authorities filed last month against Madigan. Federal authorities made the request for the transcripts last month, attorney Anthony Peraica said, only days after the Chicago Tribune posted a video of the Madigan deposition, the only one Madigan said he ever gave.
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