Former red-light camera company exec to testify in bribery trial of Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III
CHICAGO — Former red-light camera company executive Omar Maani, one of the more prolific FBI moles in recent Chicago history, is expected to take a federal witness stand for the first time Wednesday as the bribery trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III kicks off in earnest.
Maani, a co-founder of SafeSpeed LLC who began cooperating with federal investigators after being confronted with evidence of his own wrongdoing, is the star witness against Jones and is expected to testify about secret recordings he made of dinner meetings where he allegedly discussed paying the senator $5,000 for his help on red-light camera legislation.
'You can raise me five grand. That'd be good,' Jones allegedly told Maani over dinner at Steak 48 in July 2019.
Jones, 46, whose father, Emil Jones Jr., led the state Senate for years before orchestrating having his son replace him in 2009, is charged with bribery, use of an interstate facility to solicit bribery, and lying to federal agents. The most serious charge carries up to 10 years in prison, while the others have a five-year maximum term.
Maani is expected to be the first witness called by prosecutors after opening statements Wednesday morning. Assistant U.S. Attorney Prashant Kolluri said his direct testimony will likely take the entire day.
Jones' trial is the first of a sitting politician at the federal courthouse since then-Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson was convicted in 2021 on counts of tax fraud and lying to banking regulators. The last sitting state legislator to face trial was Derrick Smith, a then-state representative who was convicted of bribery nearly a decade ago.
If convicted, Jones would be forced to resign under Illinois law and would almost certainly forfeit any future pension.
The jury of five men and seven women as well as two alternates was finalized in Jones' case shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday following the questioning of 45 potential jurors over two full days.
Among the panel of regular jurors: a man who works to clean up hazardous waste sites and is an avid fly fisherman; an accounting clerk from the west suburbs who says he dislikes red light cameras; a woman who is dean of students for small private college; and a man whose sister-in-law is an Illinois deputy governor.
Most of the jurors selected said they'd never heard of Jones, though a few said they believed they knew his name or saw a brief account of his case on the news.
Jones, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence. His lawyers have indicated they intend to argue his actions were business as usual and that the government is trying to stretch political give-and-take into bribery.
'Everyday events involving elected officials must be placed in an honest and fair context,' Jones' lead attorney, Victor Henderson, told the Tribune last month. 'The Senator is looking forward to his day in court.'
Maani's cooperation was also instrumental in bringing down a host of other elected officials and Democratic political operatives, including Jones' then-Senate colleague Martin Sandoval, who died of COVID-19 complications in December 2020 while he was cooperating with the government.
Maani was granted a deferred prosecution deal because of his efforts and will wind up without a felony conviction on his record.
Meanwhile, because he was charged in the midst of the pandemic, Maani has not had to appear physically in court until Wednesday.
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Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's primaries: Sherrill won as many Democratic voters were weighing which candidate would be most electable and as each Democratic candidate pitched a different path forward for the party. Sherrill's victory suggests some Democratic voters want to dust off the party's successful playbook from the 2018 midterm elections, when she flipped a longtime Republican-held House seat. In that campaign and in her primary run this year, Sherrill stressed her background as a Navy helicopter pilot and a former federal prosecutor and pitched 'ruthless competence' as a counter to Trump. 'It just seems so obvious to me what the path forward is. It's effectively govern,' Sherrill recently told NBC News. 'And this is what I've been doing since 2018 when I first ran, right? ... I say to people, 'What's keeping you up at night?'' 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Like many prominent Republicans, Ciattarelli wasn't always on board — he criticized Trump as a 'charlatan' in 2015. And while he embraced Trump during his previous bid for governor, he didn't campaign with him. That led Ciattarelli's opponents, including his top competitor, former radio host Bill Spadea, to try to frame him as insufficiently loyal to Trump. (Spadea had voiced criticism of Trump before he fell back in line.) But Trump's endorsement of Ciattarelli cemented his front-runner status, helping hasten the end of the campaign. And in a nod to Ciattarelli's past criticism, Trump tried to inoculate him from any attempt to undercut his Trump bona fides. 'Jack, who after getting to know and understand MAGA, has gone ALL IN, and is now 100% (PLUS!),' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing his backing. Tuesday's result suggests that Trump's seal of approval was good enough for most GOP primary voters. 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He criticized her as 'Phil Murphy 2.0,' arguing that she has 'enabled every extremist and costly idea Phil Murphy has put forth,' and he even revived a key criticism of Murphy from his 2021 campaign. He also criticized Sherrill's focus on Trump as a deflection. 'Mark my words: While we focus on these key New Jersey issues, my Democratic opponent will do everything in her power. Trust me ... if you took a shot every time Mikie Sherrill says 'Trump,' you'd be drunk off your ass every day between now and Nov. 4,' he said. 'But every time you hear her say 'Trump,' I want you to know what it really means: What it really means is Mikie doesn't have a plan to fix New Jersey,' he continued. During her victory speech, Sherrill leaned heavily on her biography but also emphasized a dual mandate — a fight against New Jersey Republicans and also against Trump, a recipe that Democrats have successfully leaned on in past midterm elections. 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Pulse massacre survivors are set to revisit the nightclub before it's razed
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