Michael Madigan

Michael Madigan, the former long-serving Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, was convicted in 2025 on federal corruption charges. Following a four-month trial, a jury found him guilty of 10 counts, including bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and Travel Act violations. The charges stemmed from two primary schemes: facilitating favorable legislation for Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in exchange for the company funneling over $3 million to his political allies through no-work jobs and contracts, and attempting to secure state board appointments for former Alderman Danny Solis in exchange for business referrals for Madigan’s private law firm. In June 2025, Madigan was sentenced to 7½ years in prison and fined $2.5 million. He began serving his sentence on October 13, 2025. On April 27, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld his convictions, rejecting his challenges regarding jury instructions and the sufficiency of evidence. During the trial, Madigan was acquitted of seven charges, including certain bribery and Travel Act counts related to ComEd and the Solis scheme, as well as attempted extortion regarding a real estate development. The jury deadlocked on several other counts, including racketeering conspiracy and charges related to an AT&T scheme and a Chinatown land transfer; a mistrial was declared for those deadlocked counts.