Former state Sen. Terry Link testifies about his cooperation with FBI — which he once denied

Terry Link once publicly denied playing a central role in the federal bribery scandal that ended the career — and freedom — of fellow lawmaker Luis Arroyo.

Hours after the feds announced bribery charges in October 2019 against then-state Rep. Arroyo, the Chicago Sun-Times confirmed that Link, a state senator, had worn a wire on Arroyo while seeking a bribe.

Link told reporters it wasn’t true. But more than three years later, Link found himself sitting on the witness stand Wednesday in a courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, testifying against the man who allegedly bribed the two lawmakers, businessman James T. Weiss.

Link, 76, wore a gray suit and a yellow tie as he took his turn as star witness in the 23rd-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger. And he explained to jurors how he got there — by filing false tax returns. He pleaded guilty to the crime in 2020, admitting that he filed false returns for the years 2012 to 2016 and dodged $82,000 in taxes.

He also resigned from the Senate in 2020.

The first day of testimony in Weiss’ trial also featured appearances by state Rep. Robert “Bob” Rita and former state Sen. Antonio “Tony” Munoz. For Rita, it was his second time testifying in federal court in less than three months about bribery schemes at the Illinois Capitol.

But only Link had to explain his own crimes to the jury. The former senator told the panel that he’d withdrawn money from his campaign account and, he said, “I used some for gambling.”

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

Link has yet to be sentenced for his tax crimes, but he’s hoping his cooperation with the FBI will help him catch a break when that day comes.

The former senator is among a roster of notorious federal cooperators in Chicago who have become known in recent years. Among them is former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis and former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, who also wound up on a witness stand in March.

Link said his cooperation with the FBI began simply. He said he passed along information “that was basically public information … more or less procedural information on how … the Senate works.”

Then, he confirmed that he began regularly making recordings for the FBI in 2018 and 2019. The only recordings by Link that have been made publicly known, so far, are from 2019.

Those recordings are now key evidence in the case against Weiss, a son-in-law of former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios. They were also used to prosecute Arroyo, who pleaded guilty in November 2021 and is now serving a nearly five-year prison sentence for his role in the scheme.

Federal prosecutors say Weiss paid $32,500 in bribes to Arroyo to promote legislation that would explicitly legalize unregulated gambling devices known as sweepstakes machines. Rita testified Wednesday that Arroyo, who had never before mentioned sweepstakes machines, suddenly began pestering him about it constantly in the fall of 2018.

“He continually pressed the issue to the point where I didn’t even want to talk to him anymore,” Rita testified.

The feds played recordings from House committee meetings in May 2019 in which Arroyo could be heard complaining that the “big guys” — traditional video gaming operators — “want to take out the little guys” — sweepstakes machine operators like Weiss.

Link also testified that Arroyo approached him on the Senate floor about the issue when Link was already feeling a lot of pressure about the bill. Link testified that he “used some unfriendly language” that he didn’t want to repeat in court.

Seeger urged him to repeat it.

“Well,” Link said Wednesday, “I said, ‘Get the f— out of here.’ And I apologize for saying that.”

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Ilia Usharovich, Rita and Munoz confirmed that Arroyo never offered them any bribe.

But when the gaming bill passed without the sweepstakes provision, the feds say Arroyo and Weiss turned to Link, meeting with him at a Wendy’s restaurant in Highland Park on Aug. 2, 2019.

Jurors on Wednesday heard excerpts of the recording Link made of the meeting inside the restaurant that day. Though the conversation was difficult to hear in the courtroom gallery, it came across as a legitimate chat about the legislation — amid a fast-food restaurant soundtrack that included “Broken Wings” by Mr. Mister.

The feds say Arroyo and Link stepped outside the restaurant at some point. That’s when Arroyo told Link he was being paid $2,500 a month as a consultant, and that the same could be arranged for Link.

Then, in a meeting three weeks later, Arroyo gave Link a $2,500 check from Weiss’ business, Collage LLC.

However, the trial ended for the week before Link could testify about the bribe offer or the check. Testimony is set to resume Monday.