(The Center Square) – An assistant U.S. attorney called the four former Commonwealth Edison executives and lobbyists “the grandmasters of corruption” before turning the state’s highest profile corruption case in years over to a jury Tuesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said the four were careful in the alleged eight-year scheme to pay out $1.3 million in jobs, contracts and payments to associates of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for favorable treatment on legislation in Springfield that would affect the state’s largest electric utility.
“They weren’t amateurs. They weren’t playing checkers. They were playing chess,” Bhachu said in his rebuttal. “When it came to chess, Mr. McClain and the others were grandmasters of corruption.”
Prosecutors charged former state lawmaker and lobbyist Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former contract lobbyist Jay Doherty with a multi-year scheme to gain Madigan’s support for legislation that would benefit the utility’s bottom line. The defendants have all pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying ComEd books and records.
Madigan, who resigned after losing the House speakership in January 2021, has been charged with 23 counts of racketeering, bribery, and official misconduct in a separate case that could go to trial in April 2024.
Bhachu compared it to paying a toll on the tollway.
“The money paid to Madigan and others was a corruption toll,” he said. “And they paid that toll every month.”
Earlier Tuesday, defense attorneys for the four said their clients did nothing wrong.
“This is not a bribery conspiracy,” said Jacqueline Jacobson, the lawyer for Hooker. “This is a business decision.”
Other defense attorneys argued the conduct was legal lobbying, including efforts to build goodwill with elected officials.
Judge Harry Leinenweber will read instructions to the jury before deliberations begin, which was expected later Tuesday.
ComEd agreed to pay $200 million in July 2020 to resolve a criminal investigation into the years-long bribery scheme. As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, ComEd admitted it arranged jobs, vendor subcontracts, and payments in a bid to influence Madigan.
This article First appeared in the center square