{"id":1356030,"date":"2022-03-03T07:50:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T12:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1356030"},"modified":"2022-03-03T07:52:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T12:52:50","slug":"former-illinois-democrat-house-speaker-michael-madigan-indicted-on-federal-racketeering-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-illinois-democrat-house-speaker-michael-madigan-indicted-on-federal-racketeering-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Illinois Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan Indicted on Federal Racketeering Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-illinois-democrat-house-speaker-michael-madigan-indicted-on-federal-racketeering-charges%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1356030&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/MadiganHeader-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>A lengthy federal investigation into former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has finally led to his indictment on federal racketeering charges on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>The 22-count <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-ndil\/press-release\/file\/1479536\/download\">indictment<\/a> charges both Madigan and another former Illinois politician of taking advantage of their public office.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>Madigan was a fixture in Illinois politics for half a century. He had been a member of their state house since 1971 (and speaker for 38 of those years), but controversy caught up with Madigan\u2019s career, including allegations of corruption that were previously described as &#8220;lobbying&#8221; and &#8220;patronage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<figure class=\"kg-card kg-embed-card\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The 22-count indictment against Michael Madigan includes a forfeiture request of $2.8 million forfeiture of alleged ill-gotten gains<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jason Meisner (@jmetr22b) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jmetr22b\/status\/1499130011865034753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 2, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>&#8220;The 22-count indictment against Michael Madigan includes a forfeiture request of $2.8 million forfeiture of alleged ill-gotten gains,&#8221; explained local reporter Jason Mesiner.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/criminal-justice\/ct-michael-madigan-indicted-comed-bribery-illinois-speaker-20220302-kbvrqt4nknhqfhme372jbq4oza-story.html\"><em>Chicago Tribune<\/em><\/a><em>,<\/em> Madigan is being charged for bribery and using his office for personal gains, with former state legislator Michael McClain being charged in connection to the &#8220;criminal enterprise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>&#8220;Corruption by an elected official and his associates undermines the public\u2019s confidence in our government. The indictment alleges a long-term, multifaceted scheme to use public positions for unlawful private gain. Rooting out and prosecuting the kind of corruption alleged in the indictment will always be a top priority for this office,&#8221; stated US Attorney John R. Lausch in Wednesday\u2019s DOJ announcement.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>In their reporting on the matter, the <a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/2022\/3\/2\/22958533\/michael-madigan-indicted-charges-illinois-house\"><em>Chicago Sun-Times<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em>lays out the background of how Madigan ended up here. The outlet takes credit for publicly revealing federal authorities had recorded former alderman Danny Solis setting a land development scheme to build a hotel in Chinatown, leveraging the use of &#8220;private benefits&#8221; that\u2019d favor Madigan personally.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>The key piece to Madigan\u2019s involvement being how the Chinatown lot was state owned land and it needed to be sold in order for it to become a private commercial enterprise.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>Solis recorded conversations with Madigan. In March 2018, the former Illinois House speaker told Solis about looking for a fellow politician to sponsor the Chinatown land sale. He reportedly said: &#8220;I have to find out about who would be the proponent in the House, we gotta find the appropriate person for that. I have to think it through.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>By July 2020 that led to accusations of bribery with a business called Commonwealth Edison (ComEd). Madigan\u2019s associates worked there but were reportedly on the take and in waiting for the former house speaker to make moves as a public official in favor of their business.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>Michael McClain has been described as the intermediary between ComEd and Madigan.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>&#8220;ComEd admitted it secured jobs, often requiring little or no work, and contracts for his associates from 2011 to 2019 for favorable treatment in regulations,&#8221; NBC Chicago <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcchicago.com\/news\/local\/chicago-politics\/former-illinois-house-speaker-michael-madigan-charged-with-racketeering\/2773445\/\">summarized<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>In denying the scheme to his associates in the Illinois House, Madigan commented &#8220;helping people find jobs is not a crime.&#8221; The theme of plausible deniability persisted as members of ComEd were charged by authorities.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>&#8220;They have argued in court filings that the indictment against them fails to connect hiring decisions made by ComEd to any agreement or understanding with Madigan,&#8221; wrote the <em>Sun-Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>The investigation was still ongoing in February 2021 when Madigan made the decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sj-r.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2021\/02\/18\/michael-madigan-former-illinois-house-speaker-resigns\/6799439002\/\">to resign<\/a> from his longtime position as Illinois House speaker.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\">\n<p>&#8220;Arraignments in U.S. District Court in Chicago have not yet been scheduled,&#8221; the DOJ announcement stated.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section data-v-123b907a=\"\"><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lengthy federal investigation into former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has finally led to his indictment on federal racketeering charges on Wednesday.The 22-count indictment charges both Madigan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1356030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1356030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1356030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1356030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1356030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1356030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}