Former ComEd VP pleads guilty, agrees to cooperate with feds in bribery case orbiting House Speaker Michael Madigan
Former Commonwealth Edison executive Fidel Marquez could have faced years behind bars for his role in a massive bribery scheme that directed illicit payments to allies of powerful Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Instead, by cooperating with prosecutors, Marquez is in line to avoid prison altogether.
Marquez, 58, a longtime lobbyist and former senior vice president of governmental affairs at ComEd, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of bribery conspiracy, marking the first criminal conviction in an ongoing investigation that has shaken the Illinois political landscape and threatens Madigan’s decadeslong hold on power.
“I plead guilty your honor,” he told U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland.
Prosecutors said in a plea agreement that they intend to ask for probation for Marquez when he’s sentenced after the case is over — a huge break given the length of the scheme and that ComEd allegedly reaped tens of millions of dollars in illegal benefits.
ComEd was charged with bribery in July and has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the government, agreeing to pay a record $200 million fine and cooperate with investigators in exchange for the charges being dropped in three years.
Marquez’s guilty plea comes on the same day a special legislative committee in Springfield is slated to hear testimony about the scheme from a current ComEd executive. The committee has also sought the testimony of Madigan and a number of lobbyists and former ComEd officials implicated in the bribery case, but all have declined. Marquez’s attorney, meanwhile, asked that the request for Marquez’s testimony be postponed due to his required appearance in federal court.
Madigan, the nation’s longest-serving speaker and Illinois Democratic Party chairman, has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged.
The Chicago Tribune reported last year that Marquez was a focus of the federal investigation, as is former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, who abruptly retired last year, and John Hooker, a longtime lobbyist and retired ComEd executive.
Neither Pramaggiore nor Hooker has been charged.
Marquez’s plea agreement, meanwhile, largely mirrors facts that were laid out in ComEd’s agreement with the government.
According to the plea, from 2011 to 2019 Marquez conspired with others to corruptly solicit jobs, contracts and monetary payments for the benefit of Madigan — identified as Public Official A — and his associates with the intent of influencing legislation beneficial to ComEd.
Many of the illegal payments allegedly were arranged by downstate lobbyist Michael McClain, a key confidant and adviser at the center of the probe, according to court records. He also has not been charged.
The Tribune reported in November that the FBI had tapped McClain’s cell phone, and some of the conversations were detailed in both ComEd’s deferred prosecution agreement and Marquez’s plea.
According to ComEd’s deferred prosecution agreement, McClain, identified in court papers as Individual A, had a conversation with Marquez on Feb. 7, 2019, about how to present information to other ComEd officials that a consulting contract was being renewed for Company A, which was being used to funnel many of the illegal payments.
“I would say to you, don’t put anything in writing," McClain told Marquez, according to the document. "...All it can do is hurt ya.”
A week later, the owner of Company A, identified as Consultant 1, advised Marquez that two of Madigan’s associates had been put on the company’s payroll as do-nothing “subcontractors” and that ComEd should not tamper with the arrangement because “your money comes from Springfield,” the ComEd agreement states.
The new hires “keep their mouth shut,” the consultant said, according to the document. But do they do anything for me on a day-to-day basis? No.”
The consultant also warned Marquez that he had “every reason to believe” that McClain had spoken directly with Madigan about the deal, the document stated.
"(It’s) to keep (Madigan) happy (and) I think it’s worth it, because you’d hear otherwise,” Consultant 1 told Marquez, according to the ComEd agreement.
In all, prosecutors put a value of at least $150 million on the legislative benefits ComEd received. The federal court documents specifically noted the 2011 passage of the Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act, which “helped improve ComEd’s financial stability” by establishing rate guidelines and a smart grid overhaul.
ComEd has publicly apologized for its actions, but the company also has denied the scheme meant customers were unfairly charged.
Records show ComEd tried to clean up its lobbying operation in the midst of the investigation last year. One of those departing was Marquez. ComEd officially announced it on Sept. 23, saying only that Marquez was “retiring after 39 years of service.”
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