Feds say Michael Madigan should get 12½ years in prison!

Madigan wielded the speaker’s gavel in Springfield for 36 years. Now he’s bracing to learn his fate June 13, when he’s due to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Blakey. 

The hearing comes four months after a jury convicted Madigan in an historic verdict.
By Jon Seidel
May 30, 2025, 5:20pm CDT




Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan leaves the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

Federal prosecutors asked a judge Friday to sentence former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan to 12½ years in prison for his conspiracy conviction earlier this year, arguing he was “steeped in corruption” and committed perjury at trial.

“Time after time, Madigan exploited his immense power for his own personal benefit by trading his public office for private gain for himself and his associates,” federal prosecutors wrote in a memo Friday night.

Madigan wielded the speaker’s gavel in Springfield for 36 years. Now he’s bracing to learn his fate June 13, when he’s due to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Blakey. The hearing comes four months after a jury convicted Madigan in an historic verdict.

And Blakey has warned the sentencing hearing “will not” be pushed back.
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Among other things in the lengthy 72-page memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker pointed to Madigan’s infamous “steadfast refusal to use his own cell phone or send emails under his own name.”

“In an era, of which Madigan was very much aware, when wire interceptions became the hallmark of criminal prosecutions of public officials and others, Madigan tried to shield himself by shunning direct, personal contact using these technologies,” Streicker wrote.

It took “years of investigative work” to break through that wall, she added.


The feds also took Madigan to task over his testimony at trial, writing that, “with his back against the wall, Madigan chose to testify and lie to protect himself.”

After a lengthy trial featuring more than 60 witnesses, a jury found Madigan guilty of a nearly decadelong bribery conspiracy involving ComEd. It also convicted him of a plot to install former Ald. Danny Solis on a state board in exchange for help securing private business.

But the jury also acquitted Madigan of some crimes involving Solis and failed to reach any decision on others. Most notably, jurors couldn’t agree whether to find Madigan guilty of a broader racketeering conspiracy.

Prosecutors are waiting until after the sentencing to decide whether to take Madigan to trial again on the counts for which there was no verdict. The feds raised eyebrows in late April, though, when they reversed course and chose not to seek a $3.1 million forfeiture judgment from him.





Michael McClain, co-defendant of ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, leaves the Dirksen Federal Courthouse following a day of jury selection in their trial.


Madigan is now set to be sentenced before longtime associate Michael McClain, even though McClain was convicted more than two years ago for his role in the ComEd conspiracy. McClain’s sentencing, delayed by machinations at the U.S. Supreme Court, is set for July.

While the feds leveled additional charges against McClain and took him to trial a second time along with Madigan, jurors returned no verdict about McClain the second time around.

Madigan’s conviction was the culmination of an aggressive FBI probe that lasted more than a decade and led to criminal charges against roughly 20 people. Nine have gone to prison so far,and Madigan could soon join them.
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Also prominent on the list of defendants is former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke. He reported to prison eight months ago to serve a two-year prison sentence for racketeering, and he’s due to be released in March.

The probe also led to the downfall of Solis, the 25th Ward’s former City Council member. But unlike Madigan and Burke, Solis struck a deal and agreed to wear a wire for the FBI. As a result, a judge this month dismissed a bribery charge that had been filed against him. He walked away with no prison time — and not even a criminal conviction.

Madigan and Burke were partly convicted for their pursuit of private profits, through Solis, from the developers of Chicago’s massive Old Post Office. In Madigan’s case, the scheme began when Solis asked Madigan for help landing a state board seat as part of an FBI ruse.



Former Ald. Danny Solis (25th) walks out of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse Tuesday after testifying in the racketeering conspiracy trial for Illinois’ former House Speaker Michael Madigan.

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In response, Madigan asked Solis to help him land business at his private tax appeals law firm from the Post Office developers. Madigan also asked Solis for help connecting his son with a Pilsen not-for-profit.

Madigan’s son is in the insurance business, and prosecutors tied $43,000 the son made to an August 2018 conversation between Madigan and Solis. Madigan’s son is not accused of wrongdoing.

The broader conviction against Madigan came when jurors agreed that he conspired to have ComEd officials pay $1.3 million to his allies over eight years so that Madigan would look more favorably at ComEd’s legislation in Springfield.

The utility had been in a “dire” financial situation before passage of two crucial bills tied to the scheme, jurors heard.

The recipients of the $1.3 million were former Alds. Frank Olivo and Michael R. Zalewski, former Cook County Recorder of Deeds Edward Moody, former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo and longtime Madigan campaign worker Raymond Nice.



Former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo leaves the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Tuesday.


Of the five, only Acevedo has faced criminal charges, for cheating on his taxes.

However, prosecutors also secured convictions against former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty for their role in the conspiracy. All three are also set to be sentenced in the coming months.