Former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez is finally due to be sentenced for his role in the conspiracy that brought down former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, but he still isn’t expected to learn his fate for another five months.
U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland on Tuesday set Marquez’s sentencing hearing for Feb. 19, after sorting out scheduling issues with a prosecutor and Marquez’s defense attorney. The hearing would take place a week after the one-year anniversary of Madigan’s conviction.
Though Marquez is one of the few loose ends remaining from the corruption investigation that shook Illinois several years ago, there appears to be little suspense around his sentencing. Marquez struck a deal with prosecutors that is expected to spare him any prison time.
Rather, Marquez chose to secretly record his friends and colleagues — and endure multiple public interrogations by defense attorneys. He first took the witness stand during 2023’s ComEd conspiracy trial, helping the feds net four corruption convictions.
He then testified against Madigan in 2024.
When defense attorney Patrick Cotter first had a chance to question him in 2023, Cotter pointed to the defendants in the courtroom and demanded of Marquez, “you didn’t choose to sit over there, did you?”
“You decided to become their worker,” Cotter said, referring to the feds. “And make calls when they wanted to make calls, and go to meetings and tell lies they wanted you to tell.”
Still, things appear to have turned out as expected for Marquez. While he appears on track for probation, prison sentences have recently been doled out to the people he testified against.
Madigan has been sentenced to 7 ½ years and is due in prison Oct. 13. Madigan’s longtime associate, Michael McClain, has been sentenced to two years in prison. So has former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore.
Ex-ComEd lobbyist John Hooker has been sentenced to 18 months behind bars, and former City Club of Chicago President Jay Doherty was given a year.
Marquez pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy charge in 2020, ahead of his testimony in the two trials. He agreed to make secret recordings for the FBI after agents approached him at his mother’s home early on Jan. 16, 2019.
During Madigan’s trial last November, Marquez testified that ComEd funneled cash to Madigan’s allies over several years as a “favor” so Madigan would be “more positively disposed toward ComEd’s legislative agenda.”
Prosecutors say the utility paid $1.3 million to five Madigan allies over eight years. The money was paid through intermediaries, and the recipients did hardly any work for ComEd.
A jury wound up convicting Madigan on charges of bribery conspiracy, wire fraud and other crimes.