(The Center Square) – Federal prosecutors said Friday that they see no reason to pause sentencing hearings for four former Commonwealth Edison executives and lobbyists convicted of a multi-year scheme to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
In May 2023, a jury convicted former state lawmaker and lobbyist Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former contract lobbyist Jay Doherty in a conspiracy to bribe Madigan with no-show jobs, contracts and payments to associates in exchange for support with legislation that would benefit the utility’s bottom line.
Last month, the defense attorneys asked for a blanket pause on the case because the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a case that could affect the outcome. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of James E. Snyder v. U.S., which defense attorneys argue could upend the ComEd convictions.
Prosecutors fired back Friday. They argued that even if the Supreme Court decision, expected by the end of June, were to affect the federal bribery statute, the four defendants were convicted of other crimes not affected by the bribery law.
"Even if the Supreme Court concludes that Justice Scalia, the pre-eminent textualist of his generation, the Seventh Circuit, and four other circuit courts of appeal had it all wrong, the defendants are still wrong to assume that a decision in favor of Snyder in the Supreme Court would affect their convictions," prosecutors wrote. "As an initial matter, each and every defendant was convicted on false books and records charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu put it this way: "So it is nothing more than wishful thinking that those convictions are in jeopardy."
He didn’t stop there.
"If anything, each defendant’s misguided and unrepentant effort to shift the blame for their obvious wrongdoing – for trying to ply Michael Madigan with over $1 million in corrupt benefits and to cook the books to hide their scheme – demonstrates their unwillingness to accept responsibility for their own conduct and should be taken into account at sentencing," Bhachu wrote. "They are not the victims. The victims are the citizens of Illinois, who were deprived of their right to honest government as a result of defendants’ efforts to rig the legislative process by bribing Madigan. And the fact that they still believe they did nothing wrong demonstrates a strong need for specific and general deterrence."
McClain and Pramaggiore were convicted of nine counts of conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying books and records. Hooker and Doherty were convicted of six counts of conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying books and records.
At trial, prosecutors presented secretly recorded videos, wiretapped phone calls and hundreds of emails to show how the four former ComEd executives and lobbyists were "the grandmasters of corruption."
Prosecutors said that the utility paid out $1.3 million in jobs, contracts and payments to associates of Madigan over eight years in exchange for favorable treatment on legislation in Springfield.
Defense attorneys said the four never bribed anyone and argued the conduct was legal lobbying, including efforts to build goodwill with elected officials.
Madigan, who resigned after losing the House speakership in January 2021, has been charged with 23 counts of racketeering, bribery, and official misconduct alongside McClain in a separate case that could go to trial in October. Madigan has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey set Madigan’s racketeering case for Oct. 8, a six-month delay from the initial April start date. Madigan’s defense team had asked for a stay in the case after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review Snyder v. United States, which focuses on an Indiana mayor convicted of accepting a bribe. Judge Blakey agreed to move back the trial date, but didn’t agree to pause the proceedings.