Former Illinois speaker’s request to remain out of prison during appeal denied

HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) – A request for former Illinois speaker Michael Madigan to remain out of prison while his appeal of his 7 1/2-year sentence is ongoing was denied by a federal judge.

Madigan is scheduled to report to prison on October 13. The former speaker was sentenced back in June after being convicted of trading legislation for enrichment of friends and allies.

A jury convicted Madigan in February on ten of 23 corruption related charges, including wire fraud and bribery. The same jury acquitted Madigan on seven other counts and deadlocked on another six.

Reports indicate the ten that Madigan was convicted on included electric utility Commonwealth Edison and Danny Solis, a Chicago alderman-turned FBI mole.

Reports also indicate it was Edison and Solis who introduced Madigan to real estate developers as potential clients for the speaker’s property tax appeals firm.

U.S. District Judge John Blakey, who presided over Madigan’s trial and sentenced Madigan in June, wrote a 44-page order on Friday that Madigan’s “entire motion rides on routine and meritless” objections.

Blakey also wrote that Madigan’s appeal doesn’t meet the bar of “raising a substantial question of law and fact”.

Madigan was speaker in Springfield for 36 years, from 1983 to 2021, with exception years of 1995 to 1997. In addition to the sentence, a $2.5 million fine was issued for Madigan.