The Latest Breaking News from Michael J Madigan

Michael Acevedo, his brother Alex and their father were indicted separately in February 2021 for alleged tax crimes. The charges resulted from the same investigation that led to this year’s indictment of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.

Illinois law allows the former House speaker to keep asking for campaign contributions even though he’s facing charges that he used his office to enrich himself and his allies.

The ex-Illinois House Speaker was recorded on a wiretapped phone call in 2018 discussing with lobbyist confidant Michael McClain a plan to arrange secret payments to a close political ally who had been implicated in a sexual harassment scandal, newly released court documents show. Madigan has…

His finally unveiled deferred-prosecution agreement essentially will allow him to go unpunished for his own wrongdoing — and hold onto his lucrative city pension.

The feds say a 601W Companies affiliate was going to hire him for property tax appeals for another building. Burke’s firm did the work. 601W reaped the savings — but decided not to hire Burke after his offices were raided.

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Court records connect Acevedo’s indictment to the investigation of former Speaker Michael Madigan and ComEd. His name appeared in a subpoena sent to Madigan’s office in July 2020, the same day prosecutors accused ComEd of a bribery scheme.

But in a surprise move during a status hearing Wednesday, Michael McClain’s defense attorney told the judge the defendants would prefer to have it go forward as a bench trial — decided by the judge — rather than as a jury trial. Prosecutors must agree to that request.