CHICAGO (WAND) - The former chief of staff for Michael Madigan during this time as House Speaker has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
According to NBC Chicago, 66-year-old Tim Mapes was indicted for allegedly "providing false material declarations under oath to a federal grand jury and attempting to obstruct its investigation into allegations of public corruption." He faces one charge of making false declarations before a grand jury and one charge of attempted obstruction of justice.
An indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago said Mapes was granted immunity to testify before a grand jury as part of an investigation looking at "possible violations of federal criminal law" involving Madigan and an associate. It centered on accusations that Madigan and a person acting on his behalf tried to "obtain for others private jobs, contracts and monetary payments, including from Commonwealth Edison, the largest electric utility in Illinois, to influence and reward the Speaker in the Speaker's official capacity."
The immunity Mapes was granted was for the testimony he gave, "except for perjury, giving a false statement or otherwise failing to comply with the immunity order." The indictment said when Mapes testified on March 31, he "knowingly made false material declarations in response to several questions about a consultant's relationship with the Speaker from 2017 to 2019."
The document claimed Mapes did know a consultant when acting on Madigan's behalf or working for him during that period when he denied any knowledge of it. His attorneys said he "testified truthfully in the grand jury" in a statement, NBC Chicago said.
The testimony from Mapes came after Madigan announced his resignation from the House Speaker role after 50 years in office. Madigan was named as "Public Official A" in a deferred prosecution agreement filed in July by federal prosecutors, which said ComEd agreed to pay $200 million in fines and had admitted it arranged jobs and payments for associates of that public official from 2011 to 2019 in order to gain favor with them.
Madigan has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged. He said if the conspiracy did happen, "it was never made known" to him. He added if he did hear about it, the scandal "would have been profoundly unwelcome."
Mapes could face up to 20 years in federal prison for obstruction and as long as five years for the false declaration charge, should he be found guilty.
NBC Chicago attempted to reach Mapes for comment and did not immediately hear back.
