The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois)

Federal prosecutors are hoping to make some white-collar, non-violent criminals a deal they can’t refuse. 

For the next six months, people who “have participated in and have knowledge of otherwise unknown criminal wrongdoing by virtue of their employment” who come forward to tell investigators what they know can do so “without fear of criminal prosecution,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

The offer applies to those who work in the private sector — or for a federal, state or local government agency, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Morris Pasqual said.

“The office is implementing this program so that individuals have a roadmap about how to report organizational misconduct,” according to federal prosecutors. “The benefit for those who make timely and meaningful disclosures is a non-prosecution agreement in exchange for their ongoing assistance.”  

But those who want to take advantage of this get-out-of-jail-free card should be prepared to tell investigators everything they know and be prepared to help law enforcement. 

Powerful people, or those who already have a criminal record, are unlikely to be deemed eligible for this program, and elected officials need not apply, according to federal prosecutors.  

“Individuals whose misconduct involved violence, the threat of violence, terrorism, and/or any federal or state sex offense involving the force, fraud, or coercion of a minor are not eligible to participate in the program,” according to federal prosecutors. 

The pilot program launched by federal prosecutors in Chicago appears to be the latest attempt to root out the deeply entrenched culture of corruption that has long defined local and state politics. 

Officials launched the program just days before former Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) is set to begin serving a two-year prison term after being convicted on 13 counts of racketeering, bribery and extortion. He was also fined $2 million. 

Burke is headed to prison after his friend former Ald. Danny Solis (25th Ward) worked as a FBI informant, helping to record dozens of meetings that helped seal Burke’s conviction. 

In return for what prosecutors called his “unprecedented” cooperation, Solis is set to avoid prison and keep his city pension, even though he admitted taking bribes as chair of the City Council’s Zoning Committee. 

After Burke’s conviction, Pasqual said Chicagoans deserve better.

“The people have a right to honest and open government where decisions about official actions that public officials take or do not take are based not on their own private, financial interests but on the public interest,” Pasqual said, his voice ringing through the cavernous lobby of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.

But Pasqual’s soaring rhetoric faltered, and annoyance seeped into his voice when pressed by WTTW News about why Burke was allowed to operate with impunity for decades. 

Whether Burke’s conviction will finally uproot Chicago’s culture of corruption is the “$64,000 question,” Pasqual said, a reference to a 1950s game show that featured contestants answering questions to win a pot of money.

“Alderman Burke obviously joins a long list of corrupt City Council (members),” Pasqual said. “We are determined to continue to investigate these cases using any and all lawful tools at our disposal to ferret out that corruption.”

Burke is the 38th member of the Chicago City Council to be convicted of a crime since 1968.