* Tribune…

Burr Ridge businessman Omar Maani told a federal jury Thursday that he started bribing public officials when he was still in his 20s, making money hand-over-fist as a real estate developer and co-founder of lucrative red light camera company SafeSpeed LLC.

To Maani, it was the necessary way to do business in Illinois. He testified he once gave $23,000 in cash to a clout-heavy lawyer to pass to Cicero Town President Larry Dominick as a show of appreciation. He used his mother’s account to cut a check to Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta to help get cameras in the suburb, he said. He paid off then-McCook Mayor and Cook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski to keep his development contracts there. […]

Who asked him for money?

“Virtually everyone, from what I recall,” Maani said.

* The Tribune’s Jason Meisner…

* Sun-Times…

Dominick and Del Galdo have not been charged with a crime. David Ormsby, a spokesman for Del Galdo Law Group LLC, said in a statement that “any money ever donated to Larry Dominick was reported to the Board of Elections as required by law.”

* Capitol News Illinois…

On the witness stand Thursday, Maani explained he was especially nervous about the media following a trail of campaign contributions back to SafeSpeed, having already been the subject of unflattering reporting by the Chicago Tribune in 2017. So he suggested that maybe he could pay directly for a portion of Jones’ upcoming campaign fundraiser at a Chicago White Sox game.

“I could just, whatever, you know, cut a check to them or however we do it,” Maani said, to which Jones replied, “OK.”

“The number’s fine,” Maani continued. “Whatever the number is, the number is. I just don’t want it to look goofy.”

Jones laughed, agreeing when Maani asked him to “keep it quiet, is that cool?”

“The main thing: Take care of my intern,” Jones said. “That’s it.”

Maani agreed before Jones turned the conversation to his bill, which Maani had already asked him to limit from a statewide study to only the city of Chicago, where SafeSpeed didn’t operate. Before they moved on to talking about the restaurant’s famed corn creme brûlée, Jones’ pilot license training and travel plans, Maani reiterated that he’d “take care of” the senator’s intern if Jones would limit his legislation.

* The Tribune uploaded the undercover video from that night…

* More from the Sun-Times…

Maani and Jones spoke again by phone on Aug. 12, 2019. At the direction of the FBI, Maani told Jones he didn’t actually have any work for the intern to do.

“I don’t have, like, a lot of work, you know, or really any work right now for [the intern] to do,” Maani told Jones. “But I’m gonna put him on my payroll … obviously for you helping me out with all this stuff.” […]

Maani told the jury he wound up paying the intern $1,800.

Adams used his cross-examination to stress that Jones’ “main concern” was helping the intern — and “not the $5,000.” Adams also asked Maani, “How many times did the FBI give you money to give to targets of your investigation?”

The attorney asked if it happened “more than 10” times? Maani said, “maybe.”

* Sun-Times Federal Court Reporter Jon Seidel…

Ardam: "What was your understanding of how you would give $5,000 to Sen. Jones?"

Maani: "I would do it through potentially paying for one of his … fairs."

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) April 10, 2025

* The trial continues today with Jones’ former intern Christopher Katz on the stand…

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