Crime & Law

Ex-ComEd Exec, Who Turned Government Mole in Madigan Corruption Case, Sentenced to Probation

Fidel Marquez, the former Commonwealth Edison executive who wore a wire to capture his colleagues discussing a plot to bribe ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, has avoided prison time after he pleaded guilty to his own involvement in the scheme.

A federal judge on Thursday handed Marquez a two-year sentence of probation along with a $50,000 fine, according to the Chicago Tribune, more than five years after he entered a guilty plea to a bribery charge.

“Marquez’s cooperation has been truly extraordinary,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Chapman wrote in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Marquez helped uproot and eradicate pernicious public corruption at the highest levels of Illinois government.”

Marquez, who served as vice president of government affairs for the utility giant, was a key witness both in the 2023 trial of his four ComEd collaborators and later in the separate trial of Madigan himself.

Both trials ended in sweeping convictions, though Madigan was found not guilty on other, non-ComEd-related charges.

Marquez began cooperating with the government in early 2019 when federal investigators presented him with recordings of wiretapped phone calls detailing his own involvement in the alleged bribery plot, which they said began back in 2011.

Federal prosecutors said Marquez’s recordings served as the “centerpiece of the evidence” in the “ComEd Four” trial.

Chapman noted in the sentencing memorandum that while Marquez had made the “fateful” decision to participate in that scheme beginning in 2013, he also “assisted in bringing about its downfall.”

“Marquez’s cooperation generated some of the investigation’s most powerful evidence,” Chapman wrote.

In that case, ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain and two others were convicted of conspiring to bribe the powerful House speaker by hiring Madigan allies as ComEd subcontractors who did little or no work for the company in exchange for Madigan’s support on critical energy legislation. A federal judge later tossed out bribery convictions against Pramaggiore, McClain and the others, though their convictions on conspiracy charges remained.

In one recorded conversation with Jay Doherty, another “ComEd Four” defendant, Marquez asked about how much work those subcontractors were actually doing.

“Not much,” Doherty replied before warning Marquez that he wouldn’t “tinker” with the specifics of their contracts.

“Your money comes from Springfield, ComEd money,” Doherty said in the recording. “My bottom line advice would be, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it with those guys.”

At Madigan’s trial in 2024, Marquez testified that he hadn’t given “any direction” to Doherty about any work the subcontractors should be doing on ComEd’s behalf.

When asked why, he replied: “I didn’t expect them to do any work for ComEd as they were being paid as a favor to Mike Madigan.”

Madigan began serving his 7.5-year prison sentence in October, though his appeal remains pending.

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