Once a rising corporate star, ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore faces sentencing in scheme to bribe Speaker Madigan

Chicago Tribune

21-07-2025

Six years ago, Anne Pramaggiore was still a rising star in Chicago's male-dominated C-suite corporate world, the newly minted chief executive of a major Fortune 100 energy company that delivered power to millions of customers in the Chicago area and beyond.
But her career went into free fall when it was revealed in 2019 that she and others at Commonwealth Edison were under investigation in an elaborate scheme to bribe then-House Speaker Michael Madigan and win his help with the utility giant's ambitious legislative agenda in Springfield.
On Monday, after years of delay, Pramaggiore's long legal saga is finally coming full circle as a judge is set to sentence her for her conviction in one of the biggest political corruption scandals in state history.
Prosecutors are asking for a stiff prison term of almost 6 years and a $1.75 million fine, writing in a recent filing that despite all her success,, money and professional status, 'she made the choice to participate in a years-long conspiracy that corrupted the legislative process in Springfield' and subverted her own company's internal controls.
In asking for a 70-month prison term, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Streicker, Julia Schwartz and Diane MacArthur also wrote in a court filing earlier this month that Pramaggiore lied repeatedly in her testimony during the 2023 'ComEd Four' trial. which ended in sweeping guilty verdicts for Pramaggiore and her three co-defendants.
The feds said Pramaggiore's lies extended far beyond a general denial of knowledge of the scheme and involved a number of specific material matters, including whether she intentionally kept details about more than $1.3 million in subcontractor payments to Madigan allies off of ComEd's books, and whether she knew that they were doing little or no work for the company.
'Pramaggiore could have remained silent, but instead chose to try to obstruct the jury's process,' the prosecution filing stated. 'Pramaggiore's lies demonstrate a lack of integrity and
candor, and her interest in prioritizing her own self-interest over the truth.'
Her attorneys, meanwhile, argued for probation, writing in a court filing of their own that the conduct for which she was convicted was 'a true aberration' in an otherwise exemplary life, not only in her professional path but also in her dedication to her family and charitable works. They also submitted nearly a hundred letters from friends and supporters attesting to her good character.
'She has lost her reputation, her career, and her law license, and she faces even more potential consequences, including further enforcement actions,' Pramaggiore's legal team, headed by Scott Lassar, wrote in their 49-page filing. 'Imposing a prison sentence that takes her away from her family, friends, and community will not serve the ends of justice.'
Pramaggiore and her three co-defendants — former ComEd lobbyist and longtime Madigan confidant Michael McClain, ex-ComEd executive John Hooker, and consultant and former City Club of Chicago leader Jay Doherty — were convicted on all counts in May 2023 after a two-month trial. The case was then beset by a series of delays, first due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reset the rules for a key federal bribery statute and then again after the death of the judge who'd presided over the trial, Harry Leinenweber.
After he was selected to take over the case, U.S. District Judge Manish Shah earlier this year tossed the underlying bribery counts due to the Supreme Court's decision, but kept intact the main conspiracy count and denied defense requests to delay the sentencing hearings any further.
The bulk of the ComEd allegations centered on a cadre of Madigan allies who were paid a total of $1.3 million from 2011 through 2019 through allegedly do-nothing consulting contracts. Among the recipients were two former aldermen, Frank Olivo and Michael Zalewski, precinct captains Ray Nice and Edward Moody, and former state Rep. Edward Acevedo.
In addition, prosecutors alleged ComEd also hired a clouted law firm run by political operative Victor Reyes, distributed numerous college internships within Madigan's 13th Ward fiefdom, and backed former McPier chief Juan Ochoa, a friend of a Madigan ally, for an $80,000-a-year seat on the utility's board of directors, the indictment alleged.
In return, prosecutors alleged, Madigan used his influence over the General Assembly to help ComEd score a series of huge legislative victories that not only rescued the company from financial instability but led to record-breaking, billion-dollar profits.
Among them was the 2011 smart grid bill that set a built-in formula for the rates ComEd could charge customers, avoiding battles with the Illinois Commerce Commission, according to the charges. ComEd also leaned on Madigan's office to help pass the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2016, which kept the formula rate in place and also rescued two nuclear plants run by an affiliated company, Exelon Generation.
Pramaggiore is the second of the ComEd Four to be sentenced. Shah handed a 1 1/2-year prison term to Hooker last week. A hearing for McClain, a retired ComEd lobbyist who doubled as Madigan's right-hand man, will be sentenced Thursday, while the fourth defendant, Doherty, is scheduled to be sentenced in August.
Madigan, meanwhile, was convicted in a separate trial of an array of schemes that included the ComEd bribery payments. He was sentenced in June to seven and a half years in prison.
Defense attorneys for the ComEd Four have repeatedly argued the government was seeking to criminalize legal lobbying and job recommendations that are at the heart of the state's legitimate political system.
They ripped the government's star witness, former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, as a liar and opportunist who was so terrified when FBI agents confronted him in January 2019 that he flipped without even consulting a lawyer and also agreed to secretly record his friends.
Marquez testified in March 2023 that the roster of 'subcontractors' hired by ComEd was curated by McClain and read like a who's who of Madigan's vaunted political operation, including two legendary precinct captains, a former assistant majority leader in the House and two former Chicago aldermen at the center of Madigan's Southwest Side base of power.
Over the course of eight years, ComEd paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars, even though they had no particular expertise and ultimately did virtually no work for the utility. Some seemed to be downright incompetent, Marquez told the jury.
On cross-examination, Marquez, who pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing, acknowledged there was 'no guarantee' that Madigan was going to help pass ComEd bills. But he added the company still tried to make Madigan happy because 'not doing it would cause us to be negatively looked on by' the speaker.
He also admitted he initially told the FBI he didn't believe any of it was bribery.
Pramaggiore's lawyers argued in their sentencing memo that she should be punished only for the remaining counts of conviction, which all have to do with falsifying ComEd's books.
But prosecutors say the entire scope of the scheme is still fair game, even if the specific bribery counts were dropped — a position that Shah has so far agreed with.
At Hooker's sentencing July 14, Shah said the evidence at trial showed the four co-defendants 'were jointly undertaking the quid pro quo bribery of Mr. Madigan, paying out his cronies in exchange for favorable official action.'
'The instructional error doesn't change my factual assessment,' Shah said. 'Not only could a jury reach that conclusion, I reached that conclusion based on my own review.