Feds seek nearly 6 years in prison for Madigan confidant Mike McClain
[July 12, 2025]
By Hannah Meisel
CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors are recommending nearly six years in
prison for ex-Springfield lobbyist Mike McClain, the longtime friend and
advisor of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
McClain was the marquee defendant in the 2023 “ComEd Four” trial, which
ended in across-the-board bribery convictions for former lobbyists and
executives of electric utility Commonwealth Edison. The four were found
guilty orchestrating a yearslong bribery scheme targeted at Madigan, in
which the powerful speaker’s allies got jobs and contracts at ComEd
while the utility pushed for favorable legislation in Springfield.
For more than two years, McClain and his co-defendants have been
awaiting sentencing, delayed by concerns of possible impact from a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling, the death of the judge who oversaw the ComEd Four
case, and Madigan’s own lengthy trial, in which McClain was also a
defendant.
But after a jury in February delivered a split verdict in Madigan’s
case, including deadlocking on all six corruption counts McClain was
also charged with, sentencing hearings for the ComEd Four were scheduled
for July. And on Thursday, prosecutors asked a federal judge to give
McClain 70 months — nearly six years — in prison.
“McClain’s plan was illegal to its core,” prosecutors wrote in their
48-page sentencing memo Thursday. “In securing benefits for both Madigan
and ComEd, McClain corrupted the legislative process and the internal
control processes of a large, regulated utility.”
The feds also pointed to “McClain’s repeated overstepping of legal
lines,” which they characterized as “stunning” and “egregious” —
especially when it came to the $1.3 million ComEd paid out in contracts
to a handful of Madigan allies who did little to no work for the
company. Prosecutors referred to the no-work contractors as the former
speaker’s “cronies” and accused McClain of knowing the contracts were a
quid pro quo.
But in a competing filing Thursday, McClain’s attorneys asked for
probation for the ex-lobbyist, citing his health and warning that a long
sentence could mean he’d “die alone in prison.” His lawyers also
reiterated their longtime argument that McClain’s efforts to get jobs
and contracts for those in Madigan’s orbit was merely “legal and
constitutionally protected lobbying.”
“Simply put, over almost a decade, Mr. McClain passed along and
advocated for a handful of job recommendations from Madigan because of
Madigan’s position both as an influential member of the General Assembly
and, in no small measure, because Madigan was Mr. McClain’s old and
close friend,” McClain’s attorneys wrote.
Madigan last month was sentenced to 90 months in prison and a $2.5
million fine for his guilty convictions, the majority of which stemmed
from the same ComEd scheme.
Starting in 2011, ComEd notched several big legislative wins in
Springfield, turning the tide of Madigan’s longtime opposition to bills
pushed by utility companies. The General Assembly’s actions were worth
millions of dollars to ComEd and its parent company Exelon.
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Mike McClain, a longtime Springfield lobbyist and confidant to
ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, exits the Dirksen Federal
Courthouse on Wednesday, Feb. 12, after a jury deadlocked on all six
corruption charges alleged against both him and Madigan. But McClain
was convicted on related charges in the “ComEd Four” trial in 2023
and faces sentencing later this month. (Capitol News Illinois photo
by Andrew Adams)
During trial, McClain and his other co-defendants pointed to ComEd’s
sophisticated — and expensive — multi-year lobbying strategy as the
reason for the company’s luck changing in Springfield. But jurors sided
with prosecutors’ theory that the company effectively bribed Madigan,
showering the powerful speaker with a “stream of benefits” in the form
of jobs and contracts, which greased the wheels of the legislative
process.
In their filing, the feds characterized McClain as “politically savvy,”
glossing through his decades in Springfield, which included 10 years as
a Democratic member of the Illinois House, where he first met Madigan in
the early 1970s.
“McClain’s tight connection with Madigan translated into McClain,
without hesitation, making demand after demand of ComEd to fulfill
Madigan’s directives, for which, in return, McClain expected ComEd would
get the legislation it wanted,” prosecutors wrote. “McClain dealt with
both Madigan and ComEd with eyes wide open and with full knowledge of
the mutually beneficial, and wholly illegal, arrangement he helped to
bestow on each of them.”
In addition to the no-work contractors, the alleged scheme also included
ComEd’s multi-year contract with a law firm co-owned by Democratic
fundraiser and Madigan ally Victor Reyes. Madigan also pushed for the
appointment of Juan Ochoa to ComEd’s board, and prosecutors outlined
several other jobs and internships at the utility that originated from
Madigan.
But McClain’s attorneys insisted McClain simply took “into account” the
fact that Madigan was an influential public official and treated his
requests with more attention than those “from a less influential
official.”
“That, too, is not only legal and rational lobbying but is true of any
request for a favor anyone gets from anyone: the more important the
relationship, the more effort will be spent to try to accommodate the
request,” McClain’s lawyers wrote.
Though U.S. District Judge Manish Shah granted a partial retrial in
March after throwing out some bribery counts, prosecutors instead asked
to forge ahead with sentencing.
The feds earlier this week also recommended a 70-month sentence for
former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, who testified in her own defense at
trial. And last week, prosecutors asked that former ComEd exec John
Hooker be sentenced to 56 months in prison. Both instead asked for
probation. Sentencing recommendations have not yet been filed for ComEd
lobbyist Jay Doherty, whose Aug. 5 hearing will be the last of the ComEd
Four.
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