(The Center Square) – A witness told jurors Monday that a former state lawmaker’s contract lobbying work for a state-regulated utility “was a joke” designed as cover in case the arrangement was questioned.
Federal prosecutors plan to call former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago, to the stand as the case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan continues into its 11th week.
Prosecutors say AT&T paid Acevedo through Thomas Cullen’s lobbying firm. They say Acevedo also received payments from ComEd through a contract lobbyist. Acevedo was sentenced in 2022 to six months in prison for tax evasion.
Cullen said Monday that Acevedo didn’t do any contract lobbyist work and the report assigned to Acevedo “was a joke” because it had no value to the company and was only assigned in case someone questioned the arrangement.
Acevedo could take the stand later Monday to testify under an immunity agreement.
Cullen said the $22,500 that AT&T paid to Acevedo in 2017 and 2018 was “a lot more” than what such lobbying work would have cost. He said Acevedo’s assignment to write a report about the state’s Latino caucus was to justify payments to him in case someone questioned the financial arrangement.
Cullen also testified that he was unaware of any work Acevedo produced for AT&T and that Acevedo didn’t ask for assignments.
Prosecutors allege that ComEd and AT&T Illinois gave out no-work or little-work jobs and contract work to those loyal to Madigan to get legislation passed that would benefit the companies in Springfield. A jury convicted four former ComEd executives and lobbyists last year in a related trial, and ComEd itself agreed to pay $200 million in fines as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors.
AT&T Illinois agreed to pay $23 million as part of its own deferred prosecution agreement in 2022.
Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain are charged with 23 counts of bribery, racketeering and official misconduct in connection with a scheme government attorneys have called, “The Madigan Enterprise.”
