Crime & Law
Judge Rejects Ex-AT&T Illinois President’s Acquittal Bid in Alleged Madigan Bribery Conspiracy
Flanked by his legal team, former AT&T executive Paul La Schiazza exits the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in downtown Chicago earlier this month. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)
A federal judge has rejected a motion for acquittal from former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza, whose alleged efforts to bribe Michael Madigan are now being laid out for jurors in the ex-House speaker’s ongoing corruption trial.
La Schiazza had sought to have his own case dismissed after he was charged in a five-count indictment in which he was accused of conspiring to bribe Madigan in 2017 by arranging for AT&T to indirectly pay recently retired state Rep. Eddie Acevedo $22,500 over a nine-month period in which Acevedo did no work for the company.
He went to trial on those charges in September, but after nearly 15 hours of deliberation over three days, the jury’s foreperson told U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman that she was “absolutely positive” she and her fellow jurors could not find a way out of their stalemate.
La Schiazza has since sought to have the charges against him tossed out. But on Thursday, Gettleman rejected that request.
“The government is not required to prove why the payment to a third party benefitted the public official,” Gettleman wrote. “Additionally, when viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the government provided sufficient evidence that Madigan benefitted from AT&T’s payments to Acevedo.”
Jurors in Madigan’s ongoing racketeering trial are currently hearing evidence of the alleged La Schiazza bribery — one of five separate schemes the longtime House speaker is accused of orchestrating.
Prosecutors have begun presenting emails spanning from February to April 2017, when AT&T’s top legislative priority bill was pending in the Illinois House.
In one of those emails from Feb. 14, 2017, Madigan’s right-hand man and current co-defendant Michael McClain asked an AT&T official whether there was “even a small contract” for Acevedo. Two days later, McClain told La Schiazza that Madigan had assigned him to work on the AT&T legislation as a “Special Project.”
On March 28, 2017, La Schiazza allegedly confirmed that AT&T had gotten the “GO order” to hire Acevedo — which prosecutors claimed was a directive from Madigan, given through McClain — and directed his employees to “move quickly to get this done.”
While prosecutors claim this was done as part of the bribery scheme, one government witness — retired AT&T Illinois lobbyist Steve Selcke — testified at La Schiazza’s trial AT&T hired Acevedo to avoid “rocking the boat” with Madigan in order to avoid any potential impediments to the speaker’s support of AT&T’s desired legislation.
Defense attorneys, in both trials, have argued this shows there was no quid pro quo agreement between Madigan and La Schiazza, which is a legal requirement to prove a bribery charge.
Prosecutors had planned to call Selcke to testify in Madigan’s trial, but no longer intend to do so.
In his ruling, Gettleman found Selcke’s testimony to be consistent with both the prosecution and defense theories.
“Viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational juror could reasonably draw an inference the way that the government advocates,” the judge wrote. “The court is not required to evaluate if any piece of evidence alone would be sufficient for a rational juror to find that the government proved the quid pro quo element beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, the court is required to determine only whether all the evidence, taken together, is sufficient for a rational juror to do so.”
While he was not called to testify against La Schiazza, Acevedo is expected to take the witness stand in Madigan’s trial next week.
Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.
