Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore sentenced to 2 years for bribery charges linked to Michael Madigan
Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore was sentenced to two years in prison Monday for bribery charges connected to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Pramaggiore was one of the "ComEd Four" who were convicted last year of charges of conspiracy, bribery and falsifying documents.
Prosecutors accused Pramaggiore, former lobbyist Michael McClain, retired ComEd vice president John Hooker and former consultant Jay Doherty of using their influence to reward Madigan and his associates for about eight years beginning in 2011. In return, prosecutors said Madigan would help them pass legislation beneficial to ComEd.
Sentencing was delayed as the defendants tried to get a federal judge to dismiss all charges against them after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that narrowed the scope for federal criminal anti-corruption laws, but it did not work.
On Monday, Pramaggiore walked into court facing the possibility of nearly six years in prison. U.S. District Judge Manish Suresh Shah gave her two.
Shah said Pramaggiore was "all in" on a "creative arrangement" of a "long-running conspiracy" that helped orchestrate the no-show jobs for Madigan's allies — and in exchange he would move through Springfield laws and policies favorable to ComEd.
In addition to the prison sentence, a $750,000 fine was also imposed on Pramaggiore. She was also sentenced to six months of supervised release. She will have to surrender herself to start serving her sentence on Dec. 1, 2025, though her appeal may change that date.
Pramaggiore did not speak on her behalf, nor did she take ownership of any wrongdoing. Her attorney signaled that they plan to appeal parts of the case.
The judge said he received more than 170 letters on Pramaggiore's behalf about good works she had done, but said the former CEO held the power to stop the entire scheme in her hands.
"You could have said, 'No, this is not how legislation works,'" said Judge Shah.
In coming to the 24-month sentence, Shah said, "The same person that is both an inspiring leader and generous is a willful participant in corporate malfeasance."
Judge Shah added that Pramaggiore's "secretive, sophisticated and criminal enterprise undermines democracy."
A spokesperson released a statement on her behalf after the sentencing, writing in part, "We are disappointed by the sentence imposed today. It is nearly impossible to reconcile the sentence– two years in prison – with the federal Probation Department's recommendation of no jail time and probation. The sentence is even harder to fathom when the bribery charges were vacated by the Court after the Supreme Court ruled in Snyder and the Government did not seek to retry those counts."
Last week, Hooker was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
McClain, Madigan's confidant, will be sentenced Thursday. Doherty, the onetime president of the City Club of Chicago, learns his fate Aug. 5.
Madigan was convicted of bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges in a separate trial and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison plus a $2.5 million fine in June.
The 83-year-old Madigan, once the longest-running state house speaker in U.S. history, is slated to report to prison in October. But he is asking for a delay as he works through an appeal.
Full statement from Pramaggione spokesperson:
"We are disappointed by the sentence imposed today. It is nearly impossible to reconcile the sentence– two years in prison – with the federal Probation Department's recommendation of no jail time and probation.
"The sentence is even harder to fathom when the bribery charges were vacated by the Court after the Supreme Court ruled in Snyder and the Government did not seek to retry those counts.
"With no bribery conviction, the sentence rests solely on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act allegations. There is nothing foreign or corrupt about the facts here.
"In February when President Trump paused FCPA enforcement, he said the law "has been systematically, and to a steadily increasing degree, stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States."
"That has happened here. Ms. Pramaggiore faces jail despite the documents at issue being true. Chicago is not a foreign jurisdiction.
"Ms. Pramaggiore, a civic leader, trailblazing electric utilities executive, the only female CEO in Commonwealth Edison's history -- and an innocent woman -- will appeal the verdict and sentence to the Seventh Circuit and, if necessary, to the Supreme Court."
