Key witness testifies ComEd funneled more than $600,000 to Madigan allies to get bills passed

One of the feds’ star witnesses told a jury Tuesday that ComEd funneled more than $600,000 to allies of then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan over several years as a “favor” so Madigan would be “more positively disposed toward ComEd’s legislative agenda.”

It’s a crucial piece of testimony in Madigan’s federal corruption trial, but one that comes from Fidel Marquez — the longtime ComEd official who struck a deal with prosecutors with the hope of avoiding prison after pleading guilty to bribery conspiracy in 2020.

Marquez delivered his testimony while discussing Jay Doherty, the former City Club president whose contract with ComEd was used to pay Madigan allies like former 13th Ward Ald. Frank Olivo and longtime Madigan campaign worker Raymond Nice.

Marquez told jurors Olivo was paid $4,000 a month, while Nice was paid $5,000 a month — both allegedly for do-nothing jobs. Prosecutors previously told the jury the scheme netted Olivo a total of $368,000 and Nice a total of $415,000. Neither has been criminally charged.

The payments were made between 2011 and 2019.

Jurors on Tuesday also saw an email from Madigan confidant Michael McClain making arrangements for such contracts. He’s previously been convicted for his role in the scheme, but now he’s on trial again with Madigan for an alleged racketeering conspiracy.

During opening statements, McClain attorney John Mitchell told jurors evidence of any exchange for official action would be missing from the trial.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu went on to ask Marquez why he didn’t instruct Doherty on the work Olivo and Nice should do in exchange for their money from ComEd.

“This was as a favor to Michael Madigan,” Marquez said Tuesday, when asked specifically about Olivo. “That favor was being made in order for him to be more positively disposed toward ComEd’s legislative agenda.”

Madigan, who resigned from the Illinois General Assembly in 2021, is accused of leading a criminal enterprise designed to enhance his political power and enrich his allies, with McClain as his agent.

Marquez is one of two key cooperators in the case. His recordings and week-long testimony formed the backbone of 2023’s ComEd bribery trial, in which McClain and three others were convicted. Now, he’s expected to spend several days on the witness stand all over again.

Eventually, he’ll likely be subjected to an intense cross-examination, much like the fiery one McClain attorney Patrick Cotter delivered in the ComEd trial. He grilled Marquez at the time about his decision to turn on his co-workers at ComEd by wearing a wire for the FBI.

Marquez made that decision on Jan. 16, 2019, after FBI agents confronted him at his mother’s home around 6 a.m. The agents ultimately took him in their car to a strip mall parking lot after people in the home began to stir, and they convinced Marquez to make the secret recordings after playing some of their own.

Marquez then spent four months recording McClain and Doherty, as well as former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker — the four convicted in last year’s trial.

The other key cooperator expected in Madigan’s trial is former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis (25th). He also wore a wire against powerful politicians like Madigan — and he may avoid a conviction altogether. Solis is not expected to take the stand until later in the trial, though, when prosecutors turn to alleged schemes involving Madigan’s law firm.

Meanwhile, Marquez will likely spend the coming days revisiting much of the testimony he delivered last year. He began his latest round just after noon on Tuesday, following a late start to the trial. U.S. District Judge John Blakey gave the jury an extra two hours to vote.

The judge spent the day on the bench with an “I Voted” sticker on his robe. At least two jurors could also be seen wearing their own “I Voted” stickers. And at one point, Madigan defense attorney Tom Breen waved his around the courtroom.

Early in Marquez’s testimony, jurors heard about his legal troubles: That he pleaded guilty in 2020 but has yet to be sentenced, how he agreed to wear a wire, and that prosecutors are expected to recommend no prison time as long as his assistance continues.

He told the jury he recorded McClain, Pramaggiore, Hooker and Doherty — not Madigan.

Bhachu also revisited an incident earlier this year in which Marquez gave a false answer on a form while trying to buy a gun. Prosecutors say Marquez answered “no” when the form asked if he was “under indictment or information in any court for a felony.” He also allegedly answered “no” when asked if he had “ever been convicted in any court … of a felony.”

Prosecutors in 2020 filed their charges against Marquez using a document known as an “information,” not an indictment.

Marquez told the jury Tuesday the incident with the form “was a mistake” and not deliberate.

He also said he tried to buy the gun to fend off rattlesnakes — the same explanation that was given earlier this year to U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland, who presides over Marquez’s criminal case.

Rowland lectured Marquez about the incident last April.

She told him at the time that he’d “just given a really beautiful piece of ammunition to Madigan’s lawyer.”