U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber on Thursday ruled that the “ComEd Four” will not be sentenced until after the high court issues its ruling in a separate case involving James Snyder, a former Indiana mayor who was found guilty of accepting a bribe.
Anne Pramaggiore
Federal prosecutors have once again expressed their opposition to any delay in sentencing for the “ComEd Four” defendants, arguing it’s “wishful thinking” that an unrelated case making its way before the U.S. Supreme Court could put those verdicts in jeopardy.
The four former Commonwealth Edison officials convicted last year of conspiring to bribe ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan will not be sentenced until at least next month, but the delay could last much longer.
Four former Commonwealth Edison officials convicted of conspiring to bribe Michael Madigan are seeking to delay their sentencing after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a separate case the defendants say “has the potential to upend” their own proceedings.
At a hearing Wednesday morning, attorneys for the so-called “ComEd Four” argued that the scheduled January sentencing dates should be pushed back by a month in order to allow their defense teams to better prepare their sentencing briefings.
The four former Commonwealth Edison officials convicted this year for their efforts to bribe ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan are seeking to push back their sentencing dates, but federal prosecutors claim there’s “no good reason” to do so.
The SEC on Thursday announced it had filed charges against Anne Pramaggiore, ComEd and its parent company Exelon, alleging they engaged in a “multi-year scheme to corruptly influence and reward” former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
A federal judge in Chicago has dismissed a bribery charge levied against Commonwealth Edison, months after four former ComEd officials were convicted of attempting to corruptly influence former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The four former Commonwealth Edison executives and officials convicted on bribery and other charges this week in the so-called “ComEd Four” case will be sentenced early next year.
“This is very clear: We do not want to stand for this sort of corruption,” juror Amanda Schnitker Sayers said during an appearance on “Chicago Tonight.”
When jurors Tuesday convicted a quad of Illinois power players on corruption charges, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan wasn’t among them. Madigan wasn’t on trial. But he was at the heart of the case, with a juror telling journalists that Madigan “really did cause all this to happen.”
Ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist Mike McClain, retired ComEd executive John Hooker and ex-City Club of Chicago president and former ComEd consultant Jay Doherty were each found guilty of bribery conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying the company’s books.
Prosecutors in the so-called ComEd Four trial say the defendants are liars and bribers. Defense attorneys say their clients are talented at their jobs, and merely were caught in a government witch hunt aimed at Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Anne Pramaggiore was one of Chicago’s most high-profile executives, serving as CEO of ComEd, as well as chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Chicago’s Board of Directors, and on the boards of DePaul University and Motorola. All of those titles are gone now and replaced with another: defendant.
As CEO of Illinois’ powerful ComEd utility company, Anne Pramaggiore had to take risks. On Thursday, she took another as she stepped to the witness stand at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse downtown, to testify in her own defense.
A former precinct chief and longtime ally of ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan testified that for years he received checks from Commonwealth Edison representatives to do “little or no work” as part of an alleged scheme to corruptly influence Madigan.
