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* Isabel had this Tribune story in her morning briefing, but let’s take a closer look…
Less than two weeks before the federal ComEd Four bribery conspiracy trial, prosecutors revealed in a court filing that a confidant of former Speaker Michael Madigan was interviewed twice by federal authorities before the probe became public about his use of code words to refer to the longtime House leader.
The first interview of Michael McClain, the speaker’s friend and ComEd lobbyist, came in August 2014, the same month that Madigan was secretly recorded by an FBI informant at his law firm discussing a desire to secure property tax business with a Chinatown developer, the filing shows.
The other interview, in April 2016, occurred shortly before federal authorities secured the cooperation of then-Ald. Daniel Solis, who later recorded numerous conversations about a Chinatown land deal that was a centerpiece in the bombshell indictment separately filed against Madigan and McClain.
In both interviews, which were revealed for the first time in the filing late Tuesday, McClain was asked about his use of codes for Madigan such as “our friend,” “a friend” and “friend,” a nickname the Tribune first reported in 2019 that McClain used when sending secret fundraising requests to close allies. In those emails, McClain also referred to Madigan as “Himself” and the prospective donors as “most trusted of the trusted.”
* From the government’s filing…
The indictment alleges that, “in order to conceal the nature and purpose of their conduct, conspirators often referred to [Michael Madigan] as ‘our Friend,’ or ‘a Friend of ours,’ rather than using [Michael Madigan’s] true name.” McClain concedes that the phrase “our Friend” was designed to conceal, but claims that he wasn’t intending to conceal anything from the government because he admitted that he used those phrases to the government.10 Specifically, in two interviews in an unrelated investigation, McClain admitted that “our Friend” was a code word for Madigan designed to conceal. In an August 2014 interview,11 McClain admitted that he “referred to MADIGAN as our friend in e-mails and in public conversations because people might be listening to or reading McClain’s conversations.” And in an April 2016 interview, McClain admitted that he referred to Madigan as “our friend” because he “tries not to use names, such as MADIGAN, in conversation. MCCLAIN never knows who’s listening to MCCLAIN’s conversations. MCCLAIN extends this practice to not using names even in email conversations.” These admissions clearly show that McClain did not want any eavesdroppers to know the true subject of his communications and are therefore wholly consistent with the indictment and the government’s evidence at trial: “our Friends” and “a friend of ours” were terms designed to conceal Madigan’s identity.
McClain wrongly argues that these interviews somehow mean that he could not have subsequently used the phrase “Our Friend” with intent to conceal and could not have concealed anything from the government. He cites to cases in the civil securities fraud context for the proposition that someone cannot be said to conceal something they have previously disclosed. But a company’s concealment of information from the market in a securities fraud case, where the market is presumed to absorb all relevant and public information, is easily distinguished from the circumstances present here. See In re Allstate Corp. Sec. Litig., 966 F.3d 595, 600 (7th Cir. 2020) (citing Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224, 246-47 (1988)). And McClain’s private conversations, when he was being recorded without his knowledge, are certainly not the same as public securities disclosures.
As the Seventh Circuit observed in another bribery case, United States v. Curescu, 674 F.3d 735 (7th Cir. 2012), “Just as dealers in illegal drugs do not name the drugs in their phone conversations but instead use code words, so parties to other illegal transactions often avoid incriminating terms, knowing they may be overheard electronically.” Id. at 740. That’s exactly what McClain did over and over with respect to his work on behalf of Madigan, as the jury will hear at trial. […]
The government intends to introduce multiple conversations in which McClain referred to Madigan as “our Friend.” Those conversations demonstrate that McClain and the other conspirators commonly used these and other coded language to hide the fact that they were talking about Madigan. […]
In short, McClain’s statements to law enforcement in 2014 and 2016 have no bearing on his intent when he used the terms “Our Friend” and “a friend of ours” in private communications.
To the extent McClain claims he had no intent to conceal, this is a factual question for the jury.
10 The Indictment does not state that McClain’s concealment was specifically intended to shield evidence from law enforcement, as McClain misleadingly indicates in his motion.
11 The government does not intend to rely on these interviews the latter of which was proffer-protected but addresses them because McClain discusses them in his motion.
* I’m not sure why McClain was interviewed the first time (the feds went after Madigan almost too many times to count before finally indicting him), but that second interview was during the federal probe into this scheme…
He was a twenty-something wannabe developer, the son of immigrants from India, and he dreamed of building a $900 million hotel and convention complex near O’Hare Airport.
He assembled a team of political heavyweights, including Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, and traveled to China to get investors.
Now, the land sits empty, and Anshoo Sethi awaits sentencing, possibly this week, after pleading guilty to wire fraud.
He’s admitted his role in what federal authorities call a scheme to use fraudulent documents to raise $160 million from Chinese investors willing to bankroll his project in exchange for permanent United States residency under the U.S. government’s much-maligned EB-5 visa program. The program grants residency to foreigners who invest in economic development projects. […]
Sethi also hired attorney Michael McClain, a Madigan loyalist who’s one of the top lobbyists in the state capital.
That Sun-Times article was published on December 2, 2016, the morning after McClain revealed he was “retiring,” which he didn’t really do. And then the feds raided his house in May of 2019.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:00 am
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Main question is where Mapes falls into all of this correct? I remember at a meet and greet in Antioch I attended (as a dem) that Bailey said that he was certain that the feds were closing in on Mapes.
Comment by Lake Villa Township Dem PC Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:12 am
===he was certain that the feds were closing in on Mapes===
LOL
The Google is your (and Darren’s) friend. Try it.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:13 am
This case was over the minute Solis began cooperating w the feds. Im not sure I see a way out for the defendants.
Comment by low level Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:19 am
“McClain admitted that “our Friend” was a code word for Madigan designed to conceal…tries not to use names, such as MADIGAN, in conversation. MCCLAIN never knows who’s listening to MCCLAIN’s conversations”
Sound like a script from an organized crime movie. So shameful that this type of behavior was at the epicenter of Illinois’ political power for decades.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:20 am
===Sound like a script from an organized crime movie===
Also, some people love to cosplay. Just sayin
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:22 am
Perspective?
===Specifically, in two interviews in an unrelated investigation, McClain admitted that “our Friend” was a code word for Madigan designed to conceal. In an August 2014 interview,11 McClain admitted that he “referred to MADIGAN as our friend in e-mails and in public conversations because people might be listening to or reading McClain’s conversations.” And in an April 2016 interview, McClain admitted that he referred to Madigan as “our friend” because he “tries not to use names, such as MADIGAN, in conversation.===
While you can NOT lie to the Feds, just this lil insight makes McClain sound like someone “cooperating, giving a road map to speaking”… and why he (McClain) was purposely cryptic.
It’s just getting worse and worse to the idea of “happenstance”
It’s not that the G needed to make a deal with McClain, he was giving it up freely.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:23 am
Lefty: Ok, when I introduce you, I’m gonna say this is a friend of mine, that means you’re a connected guy. Now if I says this is a friend of ours, that means you’re a made guy. Capiche?
Donnie Brasco: Yea, a friend of mine, a friend of ours, what do I call you, a friend of ours…”
Lefty: Keep your [blank] mouth shut about me.
Comment by Baloneymous Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:24 am
===cosplay===
How much the Madigan Crew (see: McClain) wanted it to be like Michael Corleone smart, it’s a trap to have cosplay be a real life road map to operate.
The use of that word, Rich, that’s top shelf.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:25 am
OW - Yes. Like the Outfit : Friend of Mine vs Friends of Ours. Our Friend.
Comment by low level Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:32 am
“some people love to cosplay”
Cosplay or not, it is just as damning when the feds have you on tape saying it. Also makes a joke out of serving the electorate.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:36 am
You’d think if they were so smart they’d remember that no one has any legal obligation to talk to an FBI agent.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:38 am
These people are such mopes and this is who smart guy Madigan surrounded himself with?
Comment by Dr. Love Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:39 am
- low level -
Yep, and think on this;
Tom Hagen tells Frankie “Five Angels” their old way was dying, if not already dead.
Yeah, the film was set in 1958-1959
The cosplay was going on in the 21st century as a matter of practice.
It’s time to let the old ways die.
Hope you’re well.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:39 am
Theater of the Absurd continues another performance in Illinois politics. The cast changes from generation to generation but the plot “where’s mine” remains the same.
Comment by Rudy’s teeth Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:39 am
People sure do love their mafia movie references.
Comment by Hannibal Lecter Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:42 am
==These people are such mopes and this is who smart guy Madigan surrounded himself with?==
You’ve hit on a very good point. It never ceased to amaze me that for all the whip smart people that worked for him and the reputation they had, Madigan sure had some idiots esp at 65th and Pulaski.
Comment by low level Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:49 am
===People sure do love===
Machine politics mirrors the “Capo Regime” type of structure.
It just does (Did? Maybe past tense?)
You have(d) precinct captains, coordinators, ward bosses / county bosses…
You moved up, got a job, got better jobs… favors… “help”….
Think on CFR and RICO… Fawell’s list…
Think on Daley, no, nor “J”, think on “M”, because “J” had insulated infrastructure and that ran as “J” guided…
It’s why “wait your turn” or “came up from the ranks” exists.
The cosplay to the secretive nefarious is where the turn occurs, while a case can be made the whole political infrastructure based on “Capo Regime” alignment is corrupt by its structure.
It’s not that it’s overtly lazy or “dreamy”, it’s a fair structural comparison?
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:54 am
I thought these guys were attorneys? As this unfolds I think I will scratch my head a number of times at the sheer arrogance and stupidity of these defendants. Their defense? We didnt stop because we didnt think it was illegal. The US govt disagrees and has built a rather large case against you. Good luck.
Comment by regular democrat Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:02 am
===People sure do love their mafia movie references.===
It’s been said that when Anton Cermak created the Cook County Democratic Party (aka, the Machine), he used as his model how organized crime leaders set up territories where the local boss called the shots and shared the spoils with the higher ups. A committeeman could do practically anything in his ward or township, but could get in trouble if he messed around outside his turf. The committeemen were the capos, and their precinct workers were the rank and file, what the Outfit would call “soldiers.” The County Chairman was the capo di tuti capi.
The reason for the references to the mafia is because the parallels exist.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:03 am
==
- Donnie Elgin - Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 10:20 am:
“McClain admitted that “our Friend” was a code word for Madigan designed to conceal…tries not to use names, such as MADIGAN, in conversation. MCCLAIN never knows who’s listening to MCCLAIN’s conversations”
Sound like a script from an organized crime movie. So shameful that this type of behavior was at the epicenter of Illinois’ political power for decades. ==
When you read the governments filing and the articles, it is easy to presume he’s referring to law enforcement overhearing him. I don’t know that’s what he was saying. In politics information is power and someone learning information they shouldn’t have can be detrimental to your business and your client.
Comment by two ways to read it Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:04 am
“the Cook County Democratic Party …A committeeman could do practically anything in his ward or township, but could get in trouble if he messed around outside his turf. The committeemen were the capos…”
True today just as it was under MJM. Like most good NFL teams, it’s not the players but the system.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:32 am
I’m a little annoyed the Feds allowed all this corruption to go on for so long.
Comment by Just Me 2 Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:38 am
===True today just as it was under MJM.===
Not even close. There are only a handful of ward or township organizations with enough patronage workers to make a difference. The Machine exists only in the imaginations of Republicans and editorial boards.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:45 am
“I’m a little annoyed the Feds allowed all this corruption to go on for so long.”
You’re under impression that for the last 20+ years the Feds have been sitting with their feet up on their desks, eating Bon Bons?
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:45 am
Everything else aside, if, as it appears, McClain spoke to the FBI twice without having his own counsel present, then he is far less smart and cunning as people gave McClain credit for.
Comment by SpiDem Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:45 am
====I’m a little annoyed the Feds allowed all this corruption to go on for so long.====
The Feds always move slow and thoroughly, which is why when they finally bring a case, they very rarely lose.
Comment by SpiDem Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:48 am
===without having his own counsel present===
Where do you get that?
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 11:49 am
It would fair to say that is an assumption of mine based on the fact that a good lawyer would have told him not to talk to the FBI in the first place.
Comment by SpiDem Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 12:04 pm
===It would fair to say…===
So you don’t know.
That’s what you are saying
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 12:07 pm
some of the people were actually smart. but most of them were low burn nasty, disguising doing the bidding of Madigan with brick walls of silence and veiled remarks. it was never pleasant.
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 12:10 pm
==I’m a little annoyed the Feds allowed all this corruption to go on for so long.==
Brother, if it wasn’t for Danny Solis and his recordings, Madigan may still be speaker. You have to understand this was (is) a man who is extremely cautious and trusted very few people. He rarely said anything, even in small talk, which could make for awkward encounters…
He trusted Solis. Danny happened to be working for the G and here we are. Without that, the Feds get nothing.
Comment by low level Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 12:12 pm
@OW
I thought when I used the word “assumption” that would have made that perfectly clear to the average reader.
That assumption is based on the fact that the vast majority of highly competent defense attorneys will tell you not to talk to law enforcement, and to take advantage of your 5th amendment rights.
So, maybe he had a lawyer with him who gave him really bad advice. Or maybe he had a lawyer and he ignored the advice. Or maybe he thought that, as an attorney himself, he didn’t need a lawyer. Whatever the case, none of the plausible scenarios make McLain look particularly sharp.
Comment by SpiDem Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 12:21 pm
Everyone wants their own thing — la cosa nostra. People are deluding themselves if they think others won’t want their own thing after these trials. Madigan and his associates most likely broke the law, and they should deal with the consequences if the government can prove that. Their motives are much more complex, however.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 12:30 pm
Buffers…yeah.
Comment by Dotnonymous Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 1:33 pm
=== I thought when I used the word “assumption” that would have made that perfectly clear to the average reader.===
Why are you even speculating on if McClain had counsel.
Here’s the reality as you try to “dorm room” your rationale.
* You can’t lie to the Feds
* Evading the Fed’s questions altogether won’t help your case
* Knowingly being evasive (kinda truthful) won’t help because you’re kinda lying, and see point one.
You’re bending and doing all these exercises that in the end, McClain, as far as I read, answers truthfully to his reasons, the whys, and the whats
Sometimes being “dorm room” smart turns it to be a felony “lying to Feds”
=== Whatever the case, none of the plausible scenarios make McLain look particularly sharp.===
… unless McClain was plum being honest to what the Feds knew, and in the end, even if exonerated, McClain could be found guilty of lying.
(Sigh)
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 2:37 pm
Echo-ing @low level. The feds had a bunch of stuff. But it had to unfold the way it did for them to build the narrative they have: MJM did this consistently, over a long period of time, knowing full well he thought he was insulated. That’s what they’ll take to the jury.
Comment by Say it! Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 3:03 pm
In this world, precinct captains were like made guys of the outfit. They had assistants, helpers, etc but in the end it was up to them to make the “family” (ward) function. In return they got good jobs and in that way shared in the benefits of then organization. It could take years for someone to get to the level of being a full captain.
Even in the wards where this still existed, it is rapidly coming ro a close. Save for a dwindling number of wards, the machine is largely an anachronism these days.
Comment by low level Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 3:04 pm
===it had to unfold the way it did for them===
And they had to devise a rather novel definition of bribery.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 23, 23 @ 3:13 pm