Former Ald. Danny Solis set to testify as feds outline Michael Madigan's corruption trial

Former Ald. Danny Solis’ days on the federal witness stand are apparently not over.

Months after declining to call the notorious FBI mole to testify in the trial of ex-Ald. Edward M. Burke, prosecutors disclosed Monday that they will summon Solis to the stand in the trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, set for October.

The feds made that disclosure in a detailed 224-page outline of evidence they plan to present at Madigan’s trial. Several familiar faces are expected to make a return appearance following last year’s trial of four powerbrokers who schemed to bribe Madigan to benefit ComEd.

But Solis is now expected to join them. And so is former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo, who was sentenced to six months in prison for cheating on his taxes in a case spun off of the Madigan investigation.

Madigan is accused of leading a criminal enterprise for nearly a decade designed to enhance his political power and generate income for his allies and associates. The Southwest Side Democrat left office in 2021 and was indicted in March 2022.

The feds brought charges against Madigan thanks in part to the undercover work of Solis, who spent 23 years representing the 25th Ward on the City Council. FBI agents confronted him on June 1, 2016, with evidence of his own alleged wrongdoing. Solis quickly agreed to wear a wire against powerful politicians including Madigan and Burke.

Solis testified for about three hours during Burke’s trial in December after Burke’s attorneys called him as a witness. The defense then pilloried prosecutors in closing arguments for failing to call Solis to the stand themselves. Jurors responded with a resounding verdict, though, convicting Burke on 13 of 14 counts including racketeering.

Ashlee Rezin | Sun-Times

Now, Madigan’s own corruption trial promises to be the most significant at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse since the prosecution of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich more than a decade ago. It’s also the culmination of a series of corruption trials in 2023.

Jurors in the ComEd bribery trial last May convicted Madigan confidant Michael McClain, ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and onetime City Club President Jay Doherty of conspiring to bribe Madigan over nearly a decade. McClain is set to face additional allegations alongside Madigan at the trial this fall.

Madigan’s defense attorneys did not respond to a message seeking comment Monday. McClain’s attorney declined.

Both defense teams may now get the opportunity to cross-examine Solis about the allegations that led to his cooperation. A 2016 FBI affidavit first obtained by the Sun-Times alleged that Solis received “a steady flow of personal benefits” from people for whom he had taken or offered official action. The benefits allegedly included Viagra, prostitution services, the use of a multi-million dollar farm and campaign contributions.

Former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez — who also wore a wire for the feds — is expected to testify again after spending a week on the witness stand in the ComEd bribery trial. Former Cook County Recorder of Deeds Edward Moody is also expected to return to the courtroom.

Prosecutors will again try to call Dick Simpson, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to testify about the Chicago political machine. They will also make another bid to introduce a recording in which Madigan allegedly quipped that associates of his had “made out like bandits.”

Both were blocked from the ComEd bribery trial.

But in the case headed to trial this fall, Madigan and McClain are also accused of arranging for $22,500 to be funneled to Acevedo from AT&T Illinois.

Acevedo is expected to testify that he asked Madigan for help finding consulting or lobbying work after leaving office, and that Madigan told him to talk to McClain. Acevedo then met with McClain at a Starbucks in Chicago and at the Sangamo Club in Springfield, records show.

Acevedo asked Madigan for help again in 2017, and Acevedo wound up being retained by ComEd and AT&T, prosecutors say.

The feds also pointed Monday to a July 2018 chat between Madigan and McClain about arranging payments for the spouse of an unnamed Illinois representative. Prosecutors said it amounted to evidence of the larger conspiracy.

Solis is expected to testify about three additional schemes. The first involved allegations that Madigan agreed to accept business for his private tax law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner, steered to him by Solis in exchange for helping Solis land a paid position on a state board.

When he takes the stand, Solis is expected to tell jurors that, before he began working for the FBI, he would introduce Madigan to developers “in order to garner political support from Madigan. … Solis did this to keep Madigan politically at bay.”

The state board scheme overlaps with the case against Burke, who used his position on the City Council to try to squeeze business out of the developers renovating Chicago’s Old Post Office between 2016 and 2018.

In a June 2018 conversation about Solis’ interest in a state board seat, Madigan allegedly mentioned the Post Office developer, as well. Solis told Madigan, “I can bring you him” but also mentioned Burke’s interest. Madigan then spent months pursuing the Post Office developer and others through Solis, according to the feds.

That lasted until January 2019, when the Chicago Sun-Times revealed Solis’ undercover work for the FBI. “At that point, no further efforts were made by Madigan to solicit business with Solis’s help,” prosecutors wrote Monday.

The second scheme Solis is expected to testify about involved alleged efforts by Madigan and McClain to have property in Chinatown transferred from state ownership in exchange for legal work for Madigan & Getzendanner.

The feds say Solis met with McClain in his City Hall office in the midst of that scheme in December 2017. During their conversation, McClain allegedly made a comment about the Justice Department sending 40 federal prosecutors to Chicago who would “wanna go after white collar crime.”

McClain allegedly said that some people were “too blatant” and explained common wisdom about not meeting with certain politicians alone.

“You oughta take somebody with you so that you have somebody to say, ‘No, that’s not what was said,’” McClain allegedly told Solis, who by then had been working undercover for the FBI for more than a year.

Finally, Solis is expected to testify about an alleged attempt by Madigan to extort money for his law firm from the developer of an apartment project. The feds say Madigan and Solis spoke by phone in June 2017 about the developer. Solis, who chaired the City Council’s Zoning Committee, said the developers still had issues in front of him.

Solis also said he’d be setting up a meeting between the developer and Madigan.

“I think they understand how this works, you know, the quid pro quo, the quid pro quo,” Solis said. Madigan allegedly replied, “OK.”

“So I just wanted to let you know that I did that and I’ll follow up with you after Thursday,” Solis added. Madigan allegedly replied, “Very good.”

The feds say the call shows Madigan understood he was exploiting the circumstances in order to land business for himself.

“This call is devastating evidence that Madigan intended to personally benefit himself,” they wrote.