ComEd to pay $200M over bribery, Illinois speaker implicated

CHICAGO (AP) — Electric utility ComEd has agreed to pay $200 million to resolve a federal criminal investigation into a long-running bribery scheme that implicates Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

The company has admitted that it arranged jobs, subcontracted work and monetary payments related to those jobs “for various associates of a high-level elected official for the state of Illinois," the U.S. Attorney's office said in a news release.

That elected official is identified as “Public Official A” in the release. A deferred prosecution agreement for ComEd filed in federal court states that “Public Official A” is the Illinois House Speaker, but Madigan — the the longest-serving state House speaker in modern American history — is not mentioned by name.

Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, couldn’t be reached for comment Friday and didn’t immediately respond to a voice message.

The U.S. Attorney's office scheduled a Friday afternoon news conference “to announce developments in a public corruption investigation."

“Public Official A controlled what measures were called for a vote in the Illinois House of Representatives and exerted substantial influence over fellow lawmakers concerning legislation affecting ComEd," the news release states.

Prosecutors said that the alleged bribery scheme was orchestrated “to influence and reward the official’s efforts to assist ComEd with respect to legislation concerning ComEd and its business."

The Chicago Tribune had reported in December that Madigan has been the subject of inquiries in the federal corruption investigation involving ComEd, which is the largest electric utility in Illinois, that has already entangled several top Illinois Democrats.

More than half a...