{"id":1357239,"date":"2022-03-03T16:22:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T21:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1357239"},"modified":"2022-03-03T16:22:44","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T21:22:44","slug":"former-illinois-house-speaker-charged-for-a-decade-of-alleged-criminal-enterprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-illinois-house-speaker-charged-for-a-decade-of-alleged-criminal-enterprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Illinois House Speaker Charged For A Decade Of Alleged Criminal Enterprise"},"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-house-speaker-charged-for-a-decade-of-alleged-criminal-enterprise%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=1357239&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\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-03-at-10.20.16-AM-scaled-e1646331793169.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Michael Madigan, former Democratic Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and one of the state\u2019s most influential legislators, has been indicted on corruption charges, the U.S. attorney announced late Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Madigan, 79, first became Speaker in 1983, and served for a total of 36 years until he resigned in Feb. 2021. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21317892-madigan-indictment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">106-page indictment<\/a> alleges that Madigan solicited and received bribes, used his power to affect the progress of bills, used \u201cintimidation, and extortion to solicit benefits from private parties,\u201d as well as \u201cusing facilities of interstate commerce to coordinate, plan, and further the goals of the enterprise.\u201d <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/01\/11\/illinois-speaker-mike-madigan-suspends-campaign-another-term\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan Suspends Campaign For Another Term)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The indictment dubbed the decade-long scheme as the \u201cMadigan Enterprise,\u201d saying that the purpose was to enhance Madigan\u2019s political power, financially reward his political allies for their loyalty, and to \u201cgenerate income for members and associates of the enterprise through illegal activities,\u201d according to the indictment. The former-legislator has been charged with a list of 22 counts.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">My statement on Michael Madigan\u2019s indictment. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mCdA24122J\">pic.twitter.com\/mCdA24122J<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GovPritzker\/status\/1499159926484176899?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 2, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Madigan was linked to the bribery scheme involving top ComEd executives by federal investigators, though insisted he had done nothing wrong\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/mike-madigan-michael-illinois-racketeering\/11616619\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to<\/a>\u00a0ABC7 Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was never involved in any criminal activity,\u201d Madigan said in a statement, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcchicago.com\/news\/local\/chicago-politics\/never-involved-in-any-criminal-activity-ex-house-speaker-michael-madigan-releases-statement-following-charges\/2773661\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according<\/a> to NBC5 Chicago \u201cI worked to address the needs of my constituents, always keeping in mind the high standards required and the trust the public placed in me. I adamantly deny these accusations and look back proudly on my time as an elected official, serving the people of Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Illinois Speaker of the House Chris Welch released a <a href=\"https:\/\/myemail.constantcontact.com\/Speaker-Welch-s-Statement-on-Madigan-Indictment.html?soid=1107496303258&#038;aid=lE4FeEplDas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statement<\/a> in which he said, \u201cI made it clear that this matter needed to be handled in a court of law, completely separate from the legislature. \u2026 The full weight of the justice system was needed to ensure all charges are investigated properly and thoroughly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Madigan is scheduled to enter a plea in federal court next Wednesday in Chicago and, if convicted, it is possible Madigan will receive a lengthy prison sentence, according to ABC7.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Madigan, former Democratic Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and one of the state\u2019s most influential legislators, has been indicted on corruption charges, the U.S. attorney announced late<\/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-1357239","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\/1357239","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=1357239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357239\/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=1357239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1357239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1357239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}