‘The Corrupt Way Was the Way It Was’: Government Ends Closing Arguments in Michael Madigan’s Landmark Trial

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan exits the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Oct. 31, 2024. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois) Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan exits the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Oct. 31, 2024. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)

Powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime right-hand man and loyal soldier Michael McClain worked together for years as an “ongoing unit” to carry out “a whole spectrum of acts,” federal prosecutors alleged Friday, “some legal and a lot illegal.”

“For Madigan and McClain,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said, “the corrupt way was the way it was, the way it continued to be, but that is not the way the law says it can be.”

Prosecutors concluded their final summations Friday on Day 3 of closing arguments in the speaker’s landmark trial by presenting an overview of how the various bribery and corruption schemes alleged in the government’s 23-charge indictment all come together under count one: racketeering conspiracy.

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According to MacArthur, the two defendants between 2011 and 2019 acted together as an “enterprise” along with three other entities — the speaker’s office, the 13th Ward Democratic Organization and Madigan’s private law practice, Madigan & Getzendanner — to carry out overt, illegal actions.

“Madigan had power,” MacArthur said, “he could do what he wanted and he used McClain to carry it out.”

Madigan is accused of orchestrating five separate bribery and corruption schemes. He and McClain allegedly had three goals through their enterprise: to preserve and enhance the speaker’s power, to reward loyal allies and associates, and to generate income through illegal activity.

But Madigan’s defense team on Friday rejected those claims, painting the speaker instead as a hard-working and collaborative — though often reserved — politician, a trait which eventually earned him the nickname “the Sphinx.”

Defense attorney Dan Collins said a sphinx is a “mythical creature,” one that’s “quiet, mysterious, a myth.”

“In this case, ladies and gentlemen, the government sees the myth,” Collins said. “They do not see the man.”

Collins, in his own closing arguments, said the prosecution failed to meet its burden in proving any of the charges against Madigan.

He claimed the government’s case was “misguided” and relies on the public’s cynicism surrounding public officials and asked the jury to “see the man,” not “the myth.”

“When people ask for help, if possible, I try to help them,” Collins said, reciting Madigan’s own testimony at trial. “That’s Mike Madigan. It’s that simple. … Mike is not corrupt. Mike is not about power. Mike is not about profit. Mike will help, if possible, when asked.”

The racketeering conspiracy charge is an “umbrella count,” MacArthur said, which ties together all the “bribes, benefits (and) the use of influence to gain legislation” that are alleged in the various other charges.

Madigan, who testified in his own defense at trial, attempted to distance himself from McClain, saying the pair were no longer friends and that, while McClain may have been fiercely loyal to Madigan, the speaker felt he wasn’t quite as loyal to McClain.

MacArthur argued that Madigan in that testimony was attempting to portray McClain as a “sometimes person,” when in reality, he was the speaker’s “always person” — particularly when it came to carrying out “sensitive tasks” like the “hard calls, the bad news calls that had to be made."

“Madigan used McClain as his surrogate or agent,” MacArthur said, “and McClain used Madigan as his ‘connector’ in Springfield.”

Madigan and McClain face additional charges of federal program bribery and wire fraud. Madigan alone is also accused of attempted extortion. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

AT&T Bribery Allegations

Collins focused the bulk of his closing argument Friday on the AT&T bribery allegations, in which Madigan and McClain are accused of arranging for the phone company to indirectly pay ex-state Rep. Eddie Acevedo $22,500, though Acevedo did no actual work for the company.

In exchange, Madigan allegedly helped pass legislation in 2017 that brought to an end AT&T Illinois’ “carrier of last resort,” or COLR, obligations, which required it to provide landline service to any customer in the state who requested it.

Prosecutors claimed AT&T agreed to hire Acevedo in order to bribe Madigan and get their legislation passed.

The company had unsuccessfully sought COLR relief previously, but Collins noted that the company did have other legislative victories in the years leading up to the Acevedo contract.

He argued that Madigan previously opposed the COLR relief because labor was a critical concern of his, and he worried that ending those obligations could cost people jobs.

When Acevedo was offered $2,500 per month, he became upset and acted unprofessionally, according to court testimony. He initially rejected that deal and pushed instead for $3,000 per month, but AT&T documents show they did not intend to increase their offer.

“Hold the line is the recommendation?” Collins said. “Don’t go up $500 a month … Are you telling me that they’re worried about $500 a month? That is totally inconsistent with the government’s theory.”

Acevedo did ultimately take the original offer.

But Collins noted that, even weeks after Acevedo was brought on, AT&T officials were still concerned about whether their bill would pass.

Collins explained that Madigan eventually supported the bill — not because of Acevedo — but only after a 911 reform addition was included in the bill, even though AT&T felt this would negatively affect its chances of passage.

“It’s not attached to the Eddie Acevedo contract,” Collins said.

Collins said to prove Madigan’s guilt on the bribery charges, prosecutors must prove he acted corruptly — that “a thing of value” was traded in exchange for an official action in a this-for-that exchange.

In one instance, Madigan is accused of pushing utility giant Commonwealth Edison to add businessman Juan Ochoa to its board in order to win political capital because Ochoa had been recommended to him by then-U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez.

“He gets the job. He does the job,” Collins said of Ochoa. “That is a bona fide position.”

But Collins claimed the government never provided any evidence of a “thing of value” Madigan actually got in exchange for Ochoa’s appointment.

“Just because the government says it,” Collins said, “does not make it so.”

Board Seat Bribery Allegations

Earlier on Friday, jurors listened as MacArthur laid out the allegations in the fifth and final corruption scheme alleged in the indictment — that Madigan in 2018 had sought to trade a state board position to 25th Ward Ald. Danny Solis in exchange for Solis bringing clients to Madigan’s tax law practice, Madigan & Getzendanner.

“This had everything to do with what Madigan wanted,” MacArthur said, “which was business and profit for his firm.”

What Madigan didn’t know at the time was that Solis was working as an undercover mole for federal investigators after he’d been confronted with evidence of his own, separate bribery activities.

Solis, the longtime 25th Ward alderperson and chair of the city’s powerful Zoning Committee, began operating in 2016 as a “walking microphone,” prosecutors said, secretly recording numerous calls and conversations for the FBI.

He testified at trial under a deferred prosecution agreement, which means his own bribery charge will be dismissed later this year.

In one of those recordings from June 2018, Solis told Madigan about the potential for a board seat before stating that he would “continue to get you legal business. I, I’ve got all kinds of stuff [referring to developments] happening in the South Loop and in the West Loop.”

“... see, I never knew that that section was in your ward,” Madigan replied in the recording. Madigan then mentioned that he’d been “trying to make a connection with” Harry Skydell, the director of the company that was developing the Old Post Office project in Solis’ ward in order to pitch him on Madigan’s private law firm.

According to MacArthur, Madigan’s law firm had previously done tax work for the Old Post Office under its previous owner, but after it was bought by Skydell, he’d rejected overtures from Madigan for any further representation.

“Madigan was unwilling to accept that ‘no’ he was getting from Skydell,” MacArthur told jurors, “and so he used Solis to try and change it to a ‘yes.’”

When Madigan testified in his own defense this month, he denied that this discussion involved any sort of bribe. He told jurors he’d had a long history of aiding Solis over their years in public office and saw this as just one more thing to help out a colleague.

Solis testified he had no real interest in any board position, but was instead instructed to make this pitch to Madigan by his FBI contacts as part of his ongoing government cooperation.

Later that year in August 2018, Solis mentioned to Madigan a couple of board positions that were “generous in their compensation.” During that conversation, Solis told Madigan, ​​“I’ve helped you in the past, I’m gonna continue to help you,” before mentioning developers whom he could connect Madigan and his law firm to.

A month later, Madigan in another wiretapped phone conversation with Solis referenced an article he’d read from Crain’s Chicago Business about how Skydell’s company was buying the building at One South Wacker.

“That may be an opportunity for me,” Madigan told Solis on the call.

MacArthur argued that Madigan wasn’t trying to help Solis for the good of the people of Illinois, but rather for his own personal gain by using the state to pay Solis so Madigan could get what he wanted.

“This was another fraud that involved Michael Madigan,” MacArthur said.

Madigan never did recommend Solis for any board seat. He testified that he’d learned about Solis’ government cooperation when it became public knowledge in early 2019 following a report from the Chicago Sun-Times.


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