A federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois on 12 February 2025 convicted Michael J. Madigan, the former Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, on ten of 23 counts in a sprawling public-corruption indictment that centred on a bribery scheme orchestrated by the utility Commonwealth Edison (ComEd).
Madigan, 82, had served as Speaker for all but two years between 1983 and 2021, making him the longest-serving statehouse speaker in modern US history. His conviction caps a decade in which most of the senior leadership of the once-dominant Illinois Democratic machine has either been indicted or charged.
The ComEd scheme
Prosecutors had argued that ComEd, the regulated electricity distributor serving most of northern Illinois, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Madigan-aligned consultants and lobbyists for little or no work, in exchange for the Speaker’s help advancing favourable legislation in Springfield, particularly the 2011 “smart-grid” law and the 2016 Future Energy Jobs Act, both of which significantly increased ComEd’s rate base.
Four senior ComEd figures, including former CEO Anne Pramaggiore, were convicted in a prior trial in 2023 (“ComEd Four”). The current case used much of the same evidence, including cooperating-witness testimony from former Madigan confidant Michael McClain.
Mixed verdict
The jury convicted Madigan on the ComEd-related bribery and wire-fraud counts but acquitted him on others tied to a separate scheme involving a Chinatown parking-lot land deal, on which jurors hung on some charges and acquitted on others. The split verdict, returned after eleven days of deliberation, was hailed by defence counsel as a partial vindication.
The lead prosecutor, Amarjeet Bhachu, told reporters outside the Dirksen Federal Courthouse that the convictions reflected “the most consequential evidence at trial” and would lead to a “significant” federal prison sentence at the scheduled June 2025 sentencing hearing.
Aftermath in Illinois politics
Madigan resigned as Speaker in 2021 amid the unfolding federal probe; his protégé Emanuel “Chris” Welch succeeded him. Several other figures from his orbit, including former state senator Tom Cullerton and former ComEd lobbyist Jay Doherty, have pleaded guilty in connection with the broader investigation.
Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat who had clashed with Madigan during his speakership, called the verdict “a long-overdue accounting” and said it should accelerate adoption of remaining items from his ethics reform agenda.
