Ex-ComEd exec describes utility’s payments to Madigan allies | Illinois

(The Center Square) – A former ComEd executive who agreed to wiretapped conversations has described inside deals between the utility company and Michael Madigan’s allies at the former Illinois House Speaker’s corruption trial.

Fidel Marquez pleaded guilty to bribery in 2020. As part of a plea agreement, Marquez is cooperating with the U.S. government as a witness at the trial of Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain. Marquez said FBI agents first approached him to cooperate on Jan. 16, 2019.

Marquez testified Wednesday about former State Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago, who was a Madigan ally. Marquez said that Acevedo was a difficult, “high-maintenance” person to deal with and, in his opinion, Acevedo had a drinking problem. In spite of Marquez’ reservations about Acevedo, ComEd agreed to hire Acevedo as a lobbyist after he completed his tenure in the General Assembly.

Marquez said payments to Acevedo were made through a separate entity called the Roosevelt Group. According to Marquez, longtime Madigan ally and Reyes Kurson partner Victor Reyes was associated with the Roosevelt Group.

Marquez said Acevedo was paid $5,000 a month to do little or no work for ComEd. Starting in March 2017, Marquez said that Acevedo was paid through lobbyist Shaw Decremer’s company instead of through the Roosevelt Group. Decremer worked as a Madigan campaign staffer before he became a lobbyist.

Marquez also described payments to former Chicago Alderman Michael Zalewski, father of then-Illinois State Rep. Michael Zalewski, through lobbyist Jay Doherty’s firm.

Prosecutors played a recording from May 16, 2018, of then-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore telling McClain that she told Marquez to hire Zalewski.

“I told Fidel to hire him,” Pramaggiore said on the recording.

In a separate recording from later that day, Marquez told McClain that ComEd would add Zalewski to the payroll through Doherty’s company.

Marquez said he had recommended that ComEd remove several individuals from the payroll because they were getting paid and doing nothing.

Marquez said he also expressed concern that Joe Dominguez would be replacing Pramaggiore as ComEd CEO. Marquez said Pramaggiore was being promoted to become CEO of ComEd’s parent company, Exelon.

In another recording, McClain told Madigan that ComEd wanted to hire Zalewski before Dominguez took over for Pramaggiore. Marquez said that Dominguez was a former U.S. Attorney. Dominguez, who is now president and CEO of Constellation, had served as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Marquez said he expected Dominguez to push back on the Doherty contract.

Marquez testified that former 13th Ward Alderman Frank Olivo and precinct captain Ray Nice got paid over a period of six years. In the recorded conversation, McClain told Marquez how important Olivo and Nice were to Madigan’s political organization. McClain also said he would have to “talk to somebody” about Acevedo. Marquez said he understood that “somebody” to be Michael Madigan.

In a recording dated Dec. 5, 2018, Marquez asked McClain about Acevedo, saying it was a “perennial question.”

“You can get rid of him,” McClain responded.

Marquez said he asked for permission to terminate payments to Acevedo because he was concerned about ComEd’s relationship with Madigan.

Marquez expressed concern that Acevedo might run “screaming to our friend,” in a reference to Madigan. Marquez also asked McClain for permission to release longtime Madigan precinct captain Ed Moody from the ComEd payroll.

In a recorded video prosecutors played from Feb. 13, 2019, Doherty told Marquez that he had done work for ComEd since 1985 and described how the dollar amount of the contract went up over time. When Marquez asked Doherty if the people receiving payments did anything, Doherty answered, “Not much.”

Prosecutors played several recorded conversations, including one of McClain and Marquez meeting with Dominguez so McClain could explain to the new ComEd CEO, “How things work in Springfield.”

During the call, McClain described how important former Alderman Zalewski and the other subcontractors were to ComEd. During the recording, Dominguez suggested that he would not hold up the deal.

In a wiretapped conversation from June 19, 2018, Madigan told McClain about a jet used by then-ComEd CEO Pramaggiore.

“So Mike, in your later life, you may want to think of working for a power company, because the plane that Anne Pramaggiore arrived in, you know you could carry the President of the United States in the thing,” Madigan said.

In a recording dated June 18, 2018, McClain talked with former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker about outgoing Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes, who had been accused of sexual harassment.

Hooker told McClain that he told Mapes, “You still got a lot of folks out there that would like to be with and for you. Anne is one, you know what I’m saying,” Hooker said on the call.

In the same conversation, Hooker asked McClain if Mapes’ successor as chief of staff, Jessica Basham, was a friend.

“She’s OK. She’s pretty liberal, but that doesn’t make any difference, because she’s not the decision maker,” McClain responded.

In May 2023, a jury convicted McClain, Pramaggiore, Hooker and Doherty in a multi-year scheme to bribe Madigan with no-show jobs, contracts and payments to associates in exchange for support with legislation that would benefit the utility’s bottom line.

Madigan and McClain are facing 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct.

Judge John Robert Blakey apologized to prosecutor Amar Bhachu Wednesday morning for technical problems with Bhachu’s body microphone and said he warned about such issues before the trial. “The courtroom’s cursed,” Blakey said.

The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday morning at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago.

Greg Bishop and Brett Rowland contributed to this story.