Crime & Law

‘The Story Isn’t True’: Attorney for Madigan Co-Defendant Rejects Bribery Allegations in Closing Arguments

When Michael McClain, longtime confidant of powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, forwarded job recommendations or pushed companies like Commonwealth Edison or AT&T to hire Madigan allies, he wasn’t doing so as part of any bribery scheme, his attorney said, but rather because he was a diligent lobbyist trying to maintain access to his biggest client.

“There’s no email, no recording where anyone says, ‘It’s time to ask the speaker for help. We gave those jobs, what are we getting for it?’” McClain’s attorney Patrick Cotter said Tuesday.

Cotter’s summation came on the fifth day of closing arguments in the landmark corruption trial at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago.

Of the 23 total charges in the indictment, McClain faces six counts including racketeering conspiracy, federal program bribery and wire fraud. Madigan faces similar charges. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Cotter on Tuesday pointed back to the opening statements from his co-counsel John Mitchell, who told jurors back in October that when all was said and done in this trial, the government’s math “would not add up.”

After more than 60 witnesses, thousands of pieces of evidence including emails and secret wiretapped recordings and weeks upon weeks of testimony, Cotter on Tuesday said “the government’s math still doesn’t add up.”

The most extensive of the government’s allegations in the sprawling trial surrounded utility giant ComEd, whose officials allegedly conspired to bribe the speaker.

ComEd allegedly paid four Madigan allies — 13th Ward precinct captains Ray Nice and Ed Moody, and former Chicago Alds. Frank Olivo and Michael Zalewski — $1.3 million even as they did little or no work, in order to win over Madigan’s support on critical energy legislation including the Smart Grid bill in 2011 and the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2016.

McClain, who worked as a contract lobbyist for ComEd, is accused of organizing those no-work job arrangements.

But Cotter told jurors McClain did nothing more than pass along job recommendations from Madigan and that no evidence shown at trial proves there was any intent by McClain to exchange jobs for official action from Madigan in a “this-for-that” exchange.

“Lobbying and politics,” he said, “that’s what got the bills passed. And lobbying and politics are not crimes.”

McClain, along with three others, was previously convicted of conspiring to bribe Madigan in the 2023 “ComEd Four” trial.

Cotter argued that, while the bills that ultimately passed were good for ComEd, they were also just good pieces of legislation that had wide-ranging labor and legislative support and weren’t simply the result of Madigan forcing them through.

Like Madigan’s legal team, Cotter argued that Madigan never took any official action as a result of any of those hires. And Cotter said on many occasions, ComEd straight up rejected names offered by Madigan.

“You can buy him, apparently, for half the time giving a job to somebody he recommends,” Cotter said.

Cotter painted McClain as nothing more than a zealous advocate for his clients — Madigan included — and that while the line between lobbying and “doing something inappropriate” was blurred at trial, true lobbying is based on relationships, trust and “hope.”

“There’s no guarantees, no exchanges,” he said.

The government’s star witness in the ComEd bribery scheme was Fidel Marquez, a former company exec who agreed in 2019 to secretly record calls and conversations, and eventually pleaded guilty to a bribery charge.

According to Marquez, he and the other ComEd officials had arranged to pay certain subcontractors through intermediaries in order to conceal the fact that they were being paid by the utility company to do essentially no work.

But Cotter argued Tuesday that according to the government, prior to his federal cooperation, Marquez was acting as a co-conspirator in the alleged bribery. Even so, he testified that he never spoke with McClain about the goal of their alleged scheme.

Cotter attacked Marquez’s credibility as a witness, saying he’d previously lied in divorce proceedings and tried to hide $400,000 from his ex-wife. He also allegedly lied on a federal firearm purchase form in which he claimed he’d forgotten he was a convicted felon.

According to Cotter, Marquez changed his story after he was first confronted by federal authorities and only agreed to plead guilty after he found out he was going to be hit with multiple felonies and face up to 34 years in prison. Because of his cooperation, Marquez is not expected to serve any time in prison.

“Fidel Marquez lied to you,” Cotter told the jury. “He looked you right in the face and he lied. That’s who Fidel Marquez is.”

Beyond ComEd, prosecutors have also alleged that between 2017 and 2018, Madigan and McClain worked with AT&T Illinois to solicit bribes from the phone company by arranging for AT&T to indirectly pay ex-state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, another Madigan ally, $22,500 as a lobbyist, even though Acevedo did no actual work for the company.

Another scheme outlined by prosecutors involved Madigan and McClain’s alleged efforts to illegally steer business to the speaker’s private property tax law firm amid efforts to develop a state-owned parcel of land in Chinatown into a commercial development.

Cotter denied that McClain was involved in any bribery in any of those alleged schemes and said that if there had been any recording or email that laid out the breadth of those allegations, the government would have found it and used it at trial.

“It’s not there," Cotter said, “because the story isn’t true.”

After Madigan and McClain’s respective defense teams finish their closing remarks, the government will next present rebuttal arguments Wednesday before jury deliberations begin.

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