Crime & Law

Feds Seeking 15 Month Sentence for Ex-City Club President Jay Doherty in ‘ComEd Four’ Bribery Conspiracy Case

Federal prosecutors are asking that Jay Doherty, a former contract lobbyist for Commonwealth Edison, be sentenced to more than a year in prison following his conviction in the “ComEd Four” bribery case.

In a sentencing memo published late Tuesday, prosecutors asked that Doherty be sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Doherty and his three codefendants — former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore,  former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s longtime confidant Michael McClain and ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker — were each convicted in 2023 of bribery conspiracy and willfully falsifying the utility company’s books.

Prosecutors alleged they had plotted to give “a continuous stream of benefits” to “corruptly influence and reward” Madigan in order to get his support on critical energy legislation in Springfield.

The four did so by arranging for ComEd to pay $1.3 million to Madigan allies who were hired as subcontractors, but who actually did little or no work for the utility company. Madigan himself was convicted at a separate trial earlier this year and was sentenced in June to more than seven years in prison.

“Doherty well knew that the subcontractors did no work, that they were Madigan associates, and that ComEd paid them to influence Madigan on ComEd’s legislation,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Striecker wrote in the sentencing memo.

Already Hooker and Pramaggiore have been sentenced to prison terms of 18- and 24-months, respectively. McClain is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

Rather than paying the subcontractors directly, prosecutors said the defendants arranged for them to be paid through an intermediary — Doherty — in an effort to conceal the payments. Jurors at trial heard numerous secretly recorded conversations in which Hooker and his codefendants discussed these plans.

Prosecutors said Doherty was “integral” to the scheme, as his “discreet handling” of the payments was “vitally important” in allowing the conspiracy to continue for multiple years.

But the feds said Doherty was “less culpable” than his co-defendants, and thus should receive a sentence lighter than those already handed out to Hooker and Pramaggiore — which were both far less time than what the feds had recommended.

“This recommendation is significantly less than what the government otherwise would have recommended for Doherty absent the sentences already imposed upon Doherty’s codefendants,” Striecker wrote.

In addition to operating his own consulting firm, Jay. D. Doherty & Associates, Doherty served as City Club president and worked as a ComEd consultant for decades.

Prosecutors alleged he played a “critical role” in the bribery conspiracy as he and his firm operated as a “pass-through” for payments from ComEd to the sham contractors in order to keep them concealed from the utility company’s internal controls.

“Doherty submitted false contracts and false invoices to ComEd every month for eight years, which allowed the conspiracy to continue,” Striecker wrote. “ComEd paid Doherty every month, and Doherty then issued checks to the subcontractors knowing they had done no work for ComEd.”

Each time Doherty took on a new “ghost” worker, prosecutors said ComEd would increase his contract, which grew from $20,000 per month up to $37,000 per month.

In a 2019 conversation with then-ComEd exec Fidel Marquez — who unbeknownst to Doherty was recording the chat while operating as an undercover government mole — Doherty joked that it appeared he was making a “gillion dollars,” even though much of that money was being handed off to Madigan allies.

During that chat, Doherty detailed how the subcontractor conspiracy would play out, prosecutors said. He would get a call from Hooker, who would tell him he wanted “to slug this guy on.”

When Marquez asked what work those subcontractors were actually doing, Doherty replied, “Not much … to answer the question,” before adding “they keep their mouth shut … do they do anything for me on a day-to-day basis? No.”

Doherty is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 5.

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