* Tribune…

A longtime political operative at the center of the investigation into former Ald. Daniel Solis has been charged in a scheme to steer a massive Chicago Public Schools contract to a Cleveland-based company in exchange for donations to Solis’ campaign.

In addition to the alleged contract fraud, Roberto Caldero was also accused in an indictment filed in U.S. District Court with offering $100,000 in bribes from a suburban business owner to Solis in exchange for the alderman’s help securing an honorary street name for the businessman’s father and renaming a city park after his grandfather.

Solis was already cooperating with the FBI at the time and helped keep the ruses going for investigators, including pushing the street renaming in the City Council, according to the 20-page indictment.

Caldero, 68, was charged in the eight-count indictment made public late Wednesday with wire fraud, federal program bribery and facilitating bribery. An arraignment date had not been set.

* Sun-Times…

Caldero’s name came to light in a bombshell federal court affidavit first obtained by the Sun-Times in January 2019. Among other things, it alleged that Solis and Caldero had made plans to exchange Viagra or visit massage parlors.

Solis helped prosecutors build their case against Burke, and Burke’s defense lawyers have said in court filings that Solis struck what’s known as a deferred-prosecution agreement with the feds. That deal was also allegedly made in January 2019.

The indictment against Caldero alleges he offered Soto jobs, champagne and admission to an annual museum benefit for his help landing the CPS contract for the Ohio company, GCA Educational Services Central States Inc. As part of the scheme, Soto allegedly joined an evaluation committee considering the bids and then gave “non-public” and confidential information to Caldero in 2016 and 2017.

* Unlike most people who are indicted, Caldero told reporters he did nothing wrong. WBEZ…

Caldero told WBEZ he vehemently denied all the charges in the eight-count, federal grand jury indictment.

“I never bribed any elected official,” Caldero said Wednesday evening, soon after the case against him was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. “I never once made a statement to any government official or elected official that I would give them something in return for something. Never, ever, OK?

Caldero noted his vast experience in government and his long relationships with a wide range of local political leaders.

“I’ve dealt with commissioners and elected officials since Harold Washington days,” he said, referring to the Chicago mayor from the 1980s. “I’ve had very close friends who were commissioners — city, state, county and all over the place. Nobody ever said I went to them and offered them a bribe. It’s not my style. It’s not something I would even think of doing.”

Caldero acknowledged supporting Solis, but he said he did not do that as part of any quid pro quo arrangement.

“I went to every fundraiser for Danny Solis for 20 years,” Caldero said. “I’ve raised probably $100,000 for Danny, if not more. But I never did a donation or raised money for him and said, ‘But you got to do this for me.’ If I did something like that inadvertently or whatever, it’s something I know nothing about at the moment.”

* Meanwhile, here’s CBS 2…

Former Illinois state Rep. Edward Acevedo was indicted on tax charges Wednesday.

Acevedo was first elected to the Illinois House in 1997, representing several South and Southwest Side neighborhoods, and served until 2017. He was also a Cook County correctional officer and a Chicago Police officer, and was connected to former House Speaker Mike Madigan.

The indictment said in 2017, Acevedo received a gross income of $130,775, including about $82,533 from a company named only as Company A. On the gross income, he owed $19,582, the indictment said.

But Acevedo did not file a 2017 Form 1040 with the IRS before Oct. 15, 2018 as required by law, the indictment said. The indictment accused him of receiving payments in cash so as to conceal his gross income, making cash deposits into his personal bank account to conceal the source of the payments, directly depositing checks into his own bank account for services rendered by Company A, and avoiding the creation of business and accounting records.

* Tribune…

Alex Acevedo, who failed in his own attempt to win a legislative seat, was charged with two counts, both alleging he understated his gross income for 2017 and 2018.

Michael Acevedo faces four counts, with prosecutors alleging that he understated his income in 2015 and didn’t file tax returns in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

All three family members have at various times been registered lobbyists of state government.

Eddie Acevedo previously told the Tribune he had worked as a consultant paid by former state Rep. John Bradley, a Democrat from Downstate Marion and a onetime contract lobbyist for ComEd. Acevdeo said he had been paid as much as $5,000 a month by Bradley.