Jurors in the corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan are expected to see undercover videos Wednesday made by a former ComEd executive detailing an alleged scheme by the utility to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars through do-nothing contacts to some of the powerful speaker’s longtime associates.
The videos, taken over a period of weeks in early 2019 by then-ComEd Vice President Fidel Marquez, go to the heart of the corruption charges against Madigan and Michael McClain, a former lobbyist who allegedly acted as a conduit between Madigan and ComEd, helping funnel a total of $1.3 million to a handful of the speaker’s loyalists from 2011 to 2019 for little or no work.
One of the prosecution’s star witnesses, Marquez took the witness stand Tuesday for the first of what is expected to be multiple days on the stand.
Marquez began working with the FBI in early 2019, after agents confronted him at his mother’s home and played wiretapped phone calls of him that they said showed him committing crimes.
He went on to make multiple undercover recordings of his own, both audio and video, that provided the backbone for the biggest single allegation in the indictment: that Madigan supported ComEd-friendly legislation in exchange for a stream of benefits from the utility.
Marquez pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiracy to commit bribery. In exchange for his truthful testimony, prosecutors have said they will recommend a sentence of probation instead of prison time.
On Tuesday, Marquez also admitted that earlier this year he incorrectly filled out an application for a gun, which he wanted to fend off rattlesnakes near his Arizona home. When the application asked whether he was under indictment or information for a felony, he said no. On the stand Tuesday, Marquez said that was inadvertent.
Marquez is not facing charges related to that application, but Madigan and McClain’s attorneys are almost certain to use it to attack his credibility. The judge overseeing Marquez’s case warned him of that earlier this year, telling him he had basically “given a really beautiful piece of ammunition to Madigan’s lawyers.”
Madigan, 82, of Chicago, who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House and the head of the state Democratic Party, faces racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise.
Both Madigan and McClain, 77, a former ComEd contract lobbyist from downstate Quincy, have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
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