Michael McClain
CHICAGO – It had been a tumultuous winter and spring for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan as he was forced to fire or distance himself from several top allies, three of whom were accused of sexual harassment at the height of the #MeToo movement. But after the seismic events of June 6, 2018, when Madigan…
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‘My client is the speaker’: Jury hears three dozen wiretapped calls of McClain between 2018 and 2019
CHICAGO – By early 2019, Mike McClain had been a fixture around the Statehouse in Springfield for the better part of 50 years, first as a Democratic lawmaker in the 1970s and then for decades as a high-profile contract lobbyist. And though he officially retired in late 2016, McClain could still be spotted around the…
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CHICAGO — Opening arguments began Monday in the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who faces 23 bribery, fraud, racketeering and conspiracy charges related to five “episodes” over the last 14 years. The former speaker wore a charcoal suit with a red tie, watching dispassionately and taking notes as federal prosecutor Sarah…
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CHICAGO — The jury that will determine the fate of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is nearly complete after three slow days of jury selection this week. But in addition to the 11 jurors who have already been chosen, one final jury member must survive challenges, plus six alternates — a larger number than…
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A judge on Wednesday denied former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s motion to dismiss some of the charges he faces before trial next week. Judge John Robert Blakey also denied a motion from Madigan’s co-defendant in the case, Michael McClain, for a separate trial. McClain, a former state lawmaker, lobbyist and longtime Madigan ally, had…
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CHICAGO – A federal judge on Thursday declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked in their deliberations over whether former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza bribed longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan via a no-work contract for the speaker’s political ally. After nearly 15 hours of deliberation over three days, the jury’s foreperson told…
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CHICAGO – Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza, who federal prosecutors allege bribed once-powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for favorable legislation in Springfield. It’s the last in a series of related trials that have played out in Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse over the…
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Prosecutors want a joint trial for former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain to avoid the two men blaming each other for a nearly decade-long racketeering and bribery scheme. McClain, a former state lawmaker and former ComEd lobbyist known for his close association with Madigan, filed a request in July to sever his trial…
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Attorneys on both sides of the federal corruption case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan didn’t agree on much this past month, but they are aligned on one thing: they’re prepared to go to trial on Oct. 8 in Chicago. The agreement to keep the already-delayed trial date in place kicked off a month…
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CHICAGO – Federal prosecutors told a judge Tuesday that they oppose plans by defense attorneys to seek a new trial for four convicted former executives and lobbyists for the state’s largest utility after the U.S. Supreme Court blunted part of a federal bribery law last month. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said a new trial…
Read Full Article The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday narrowed the scope of a federal bribery law prosecutors have relied on in their cases against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and several of his allies convicted of bribing him. A jury last spring found those allies – former lobbyists and executives for electric utility Commonwealth Edison –…
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CHICAGO — U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, who served as a judge in the Northern District of Illinois for nearly 40 years, died Tuesday night at the age of 87. Leinenweber was nominated by President Ronald Reagan and appointed to the court in 1985, and assumed senior status in 2002. He also served as a…
Read Full Article CHICAGO – Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s corruption trial shouldn’t be delayed while the U.S. Supreme Court considers another case focused on the federal bribery statute. Prosecutors wrote that most of the charges Madigan faces at his trial – set to start in April – don’t involve the federal…
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A judge on Monday temporarily postponed sentencing dates for four former executives and lobbyists at the state’s largest utility company convicted of conspiring to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. The ComEd 4 — former state lawmaker and lobbyist Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former contract…
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The high-stakes nature of one of this year’s biggest public corruption trials became clear Wednesday when a defense attorney predicted an ominous argument from prosecutors: That federal guidelines call for life sentences for four people convicted of conspiring to bribe then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.
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CHICAGO — As former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan prepares for a federal jury to decide whether he ran “a criminal enterprise” as the state’s most powerful politician, he now faces a team of prosecutors emboldened by their perfect record of convictions in two trials. Madigan, 81, once so dominant that he was known as…
Read Full Article November 20, 2024
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