Mike Madigan’s defense lawyer noted that of the 23 charges Madigan faces – including alleged racketeering, bribery, extortion and wire fraud – more than two-thirds of them stem “from Danny Solis’ deception.”
The former Illinois House speaker on Tuesday made a rare candid remark about the yearslong investigation that landed him on the witness stand.
Former Chicago Alderman-turned-FBI mole Danny Solis finishes five days of testimony as government’s star witness.
Former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis spent more than 2 ½ years living a double life as an FBI cooperating witness after agents approached him in 2016, asking him to wear a wire on his colleagues or risk being charged for multiple bribes he’d taken while in office.
For the second time in the span of seven months, then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called up Chicago Ald. Danny Solis after reading about a proposed real estate development in the alderman’s ward.
Then-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis had already been cooperating with the FBI for a little more than a year in June 2017 when he received an unexpected voicemail from powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Madigan’s attorneys accuse FBI agent of leading speaker into government’s trap
Danny Solis had been making secret recordings for the FBI for more than a year when he met with Michael McClain in 2017 and asked a question that would eventually go to the heart of one of the biggest federal corruption cases in Chicago history. “What’s your relationship … with Mike, with the speaker?” Solis asked. The “Mike”