Sentencing of former state Sen. Terry Link set for October

Four years ago, then-state Sen. Terry Link wore a wire against a fellow lawmaker, hoping his cooperation with the FBI would help him catch a break when he was sentenced for his own tax crimes.

Now, Link is set to learn in three months whether that cooperation against then-state Rep. Luis Arroyo will pay off. U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland on Tuesday scheduled Link’s sentencing hearing for Oct. 6.

Link’s case is finally moving forward now that he’s testified against businessman James Weiss, who bribed Link and Arroyo in an attempt to change the state’s gaming laws. Weiss is a son-in-law of former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios.

A federal jury convicted Weiss of the bribery scheme, as well as lying to the FBI, on June 15. He faces sentencing Oct. 11.

Link’s entanglement with the feds first became known in October 2019, when the Chicago Sun-Times and other media reported he was the unnamed state senator who wore a wire against Arroyo. That senator was also expecting to be hit with federal tax charges.

Link lied to reporters at the time and claimed it wasn’t him. But in summer 2020, he resigned from the Senate and pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return. In all, he admitted he filed false tax returns for the years 2012 through 2016, costing the IRS $71,133 and the Illinois Department of Revenue $11,527.

Then, earlier this month, Link wound up on the witness stand in Weiss’ trial, testifying about his cooperation with the FBI. There, he explained that he’d withdrawn money from his campaign account and said, “I used some for gambling.”

“The other part was, I was helping a friend who was in dire need,” Link said. He explained that it was someone who “I knew most of my life and he was a businessman.”

Link also told jurors that he’d publicly denied his role in the case against Arroyo and Weiss because “I’m cooperating with the FBI … not the Tribune or the Sun-Times or anybody else.”

Following the verdict against Weiss, one of the jurors said Link came across as a “complicated character.” Weiss paid $32,500 in bribes to Arroyo to promote legislation that would explicitly legalize unregulated gambling devices known as sweepstakes machines.

When landmark gambling legislation passed without the sweepstakes language, Weiss and Arroyo turned to Link, meeting with him at a Wendy’s restaurant in Highland Park on Aug. 2, 2019. Eventually, Link asked Arroyo to speak to him alone outside the restaurant.

There, wearing a recording device and following instructions from the FBI, Link asked, “What’s in it for me?” Arroyo explained that he was a “paid consultant” making $2,500 a month and that the same could be arranged for Link.

During another meeting three weeks later at Sander’s restaurant in Skokie, Link again recorded Arroyo as Arroyo handed Link a $2,500 check from Weiss’ business, Collage LLC.

Arroyo pleaded guilty in November 2021 and is now serving a nearly five-year prison sentence for his role in the scheme.