Another major company in Illinois with ties to former House Speaker Michael Madigan could soon fall under federal criminal indictment.
WBEZ reports that a subsidiary to AT&T known as Illinois Bell Telephone Company LLC is the focus of a previously undisclosed federal investigation led by U.S. Attorney John Lausch. The investigation reportedly centers around a a single, 9-month consulting contract in 2017 worth $22,500.
Illinois Bell is led by former Madigan aide and policy director Eileen Mitchell. The company filing with the SEC about the investigation on Tuesday did not indicate what, if any, role Mitchell had in the contract in question nor were any details spelled out about the contract itself.
AT&T was one of a number of companies who were named in a subpoena to Madigan’s office records in 2019 the same day Commonweath Edison and Lausch’s office agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement surrounding the energy giant’s patronage hiring scheme and no-work-for-salary positions in order to curry favor with Madigan as Illinois’ House Speaker.
Representatives of the company told WBEZ it has cooperated with Lausch’s investigation since 2019 and does not believe they have done anything wrong in regards to the contract.