State Sen. Martin Sandoval had already taken tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from a clout-heavy red-light camera company when he complained to one of its representatives in 2018 that he was getting stiffed.
After all, as the head of the Senate’s Transportation Committee, Sandoval was the one sticking out his neck on behalf of the company in Springfield, the senator told the executive during a meeting at a Burr Ridge restaurant, according to federal prosecutors.
Yet the company, SafeSpeed LLC, was giving far more lucrative deals to other politically connected “consultants,” cutting them in on a percentage of the camera revenue that kept cash rolling every month, Sandoval told the representative, who was secretly recording the conversation for the FBI.
“So why don’t I get that offer?” Sandoval griped. “‘Cause you know I’ll go balls to the walls for anything you ask me. … It’s hard for me to swallow how (people) make so much off of you. Right? And I gotta do the work.”
That conversation was one of several revealing moments made public as Sandoval pleaded guilty Tuesday to bribery and tax charges, and agreed to cooperate in a burgeoning, widespread probe of public corruption that has sent shock waves from Chicago’s City Hall to Springfield.
Sandoval’s 27-page plea agreement laid bare a striking level of greed, even in a state accustomed to elected officials going off to prison for trading political power for cash.
During the lengthy hearing in federal court, Sandoval admitted taking more than a combined quarter of a million dollars in bribes in exchange for his political influence or official action, including at least $70,000 in government-supplied cash from a SafeSpeed representative who was working with authorities in return for Sandoval acting as its “protector” in the state Senate.
The agreement did not divulge how Sandoval pocketed the other $180,000 other than saying he “engaged in corrupt activities with other public officials and accepted money from other people in return for using his position to benefit those people and their business interests.” Sandoval’s criminal activity “involved more than five participants,” prosecutors said.
In pleading guilty, Sandoval became the first to be convicted in an ongoing corruption probe that has touched on a who’s who of state power players, including a handful of other elected officials; magnates in the construction, asphalt and casino industries; lobbyists; transportation officials; and Commonwealth Edison executives.
Speaking to reporters in the lobby of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, U.S. Attorney John Lausch said prosecutors’ work in the widespread probe was “far from over” but declined to discuss who else might be in their crosshairs.
Sandoval, who was released on his own recognizance, made a brief statement to reporters as he left the courthouse, saying he was “ashamed” and took “full responsibility” for his actions.
“I apologize to the people of Illinois and most importantly the constituents that I’ve served over the last 17 years,” he said. “… I intend to fully cooperate with the government, and because of that, I can no longer provide any further comments.”
Under preliminary sentencing guidelines, Sandoval, who resigned from office effective Jan. 1, faces up to about 12 1/2 years in federal prison, according to his plea deal. But in exchange for his continued cooperation in the probe, prosecutors agreed to recommend a reduced sentence of unspecified length.
Dressed in a dark gray suit and blue tie, Sandoval chatted with his attorney before the hearing, smiling at reporters and spectators filing into U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood’s 19th-floor courtroom.
He was more subdued during the hourlong hearing, standing at the lectern with his hands folded in front of him and occasionally shoved in his pockets. His voice cracked a bit as he said, “I plead guilty, your honor,” to each of the two counts. At one point as the hearing neared the end, Sandoval appeared to wipe away a tear.
Wood set a status hearing for July. Sandoval won’t be sentenced until he completes his cooperation — a potentially lengthy period.
The plea deal did not identify the red-light camera business involved in the bribery scheme, referring to it only as “Company A.” But Sandoval slipped up by referring to Safe Speed LLC when Wood asked him in court to explain his misconduct in his own words.
“I used my office as state senator to help SafeSpeed — er, company A … (and) be its protector in the Illinois Senate and influence other officials to roll out the red-light camera program in Illinois,” Sandoval said.
Prosecutors did not name the SafeSpeed representative who bribed Sandoval, referring to him in the plea agreement only as Cooperating Witness-1. Several sources familiar with the investigation identified the informant for the Tribune as Omar Maani, a Burr Ridge businessman who is one of SafeSpeed’s founders and biggest rainmakers.
SafeSpeed released a statement through a publicist Tuesday saying the company was “shocked and saddened” at the betrayal of public trust by Sandoval and CW-1, saying the bribe payments were not authorized by anyone at the company.
“It appears both individuals committed crimes without SafeSpeed’s knowledge and in violation not only of the law but of SafeSpeed’s culture,” the statement read.
SafeSpeed, however, declined to answer any questions from the Tribune about the extent of CEO Nikki Zollar’s awareness of the political donations being made on the company’s behalf.
Sandoval’s guilty plea at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in downtown Chicago came just a day after he was charged. He also pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return that underreported his 2017 income as $125,905 when he, in fact, made more than double that, according to the plea deal. Sandoval failed to report more than $10,000 stemming from criminal activity, prosecutors said.
Sandoval admitted in the plea agreement that he first agreed in 2016 to receive $20,000 in annual campaign contributions from SafeSpeed in exchange for his official support in Springfield, including blocking any attempted legislation that would be harmful to the red-light camera industry.
Campaign finance records analyzed by the Tribune show that the $20,000 was doled out in two separate payments in September 2016 The first $10,000 donation came from a separate firm run by Zollar, Triad Consulting Services, followed three weeks later by a $10,000 donation made by SafeSpeed itself, the records show.
In August 2017, Sandoval spoke with CW-1, the SafeSpeed representative, about splitting up the annual donation into smaller amounts, according to the plea deal. CW-1 told Sandoval it wouldn’t be a problem because the firm’s president “did not want the contribution to ‘shout out,’ meaning raise a red flag,” the plea agreement said.
Several months after that conversation, the Tribune published an investigation documenting how Sandoval intervened on behalf of SafeSpeed to push state transportation officials to change their stance and allow the company’s cameras to be installed at the relatively safe intersection of Illinois Route 83 and 22nd Street in Oakbrook Terrace.
The push came even though the Illinois Department of Transportation’s policies required that cameras target dangerous corners to improve safety, the Tribune found.
Details in the plea agreement seemed to indicate that Sandoval was worried about the Tribune’s report, saying he “tore up” a check provided by CW-1 “following publicity regarding Sandoval’s relationship with Company A.”
To better disguise the money trail, Sandoval then arranged for an entity unrelated to SafeSpeed to make a $10,000 contribution to a campaign associated with the senator while agreeing to “explore other ways for the company to make its annual campaign contribution,” the plea agreement said.
In March 2018, Sandoval arranged to have a colleague — identified in the plea agreement only as “Co-Schemer A” — collect $10,000 in cash from the SafeSpeed representative in exchange for blocking a proposed bill in Springfield to ban red-light cameras.
Despite the regular contributions, Sandoval was clearly unhappy with the amount he was being paid, especially since he knew SafeSpeed was paying a monthly percentage of camera revenue to “consultants” for helping convince suburbs to have them installed, according to the plea deal.
In the July 2018 meeting in Burr Ridge, Sandoval told the SafeSpeed representative that he was aware others were getting cash “on a monthly basis, infinitum,” for providing essentially the same assistance he did in helping land the company the camera deal in Oakbrook Terrace.
Later in the same discussion, Sandoval discussed receiving regular “protection” money from SafeSpeed to help fend off legislation that would harm its business, the plea deal said.
“I’m not trying to be dramatic, but I’m telling you the vultures would be all over that s— if you had the wrong person there,” Sandoval allegedly told CW-1 of the Senate.
Sandoval initially insisted that CW-1 would have to decide how much to pay for protection, saying that naming figures was “just not my style,” according to the plea deal.
When the representative asked him to pick a figure “off the top of your head,” Sandoval responded, “Five,” meaning $5,000 a month, prosecutors said.
The two also discussed how to disguise the payments as campaign contributions, with Sandoval at one point asking CW-1, “Do you have a bologna company or something innocuous?” to help funnel the cash, according to the plea agreement.
The next month, CW-1 again met Sandoval at a restaurant and handed over $15,000 in cash supplied by the government — a transaction likely captured on video by federal authorities.
Sandoval was the fourth elected official to be charged in a series of sweeping political corruption investigations that first came to light 14 months ago when the FBI descended upon the City Hall offices of Ald. Edward Burke.
In pleading guilty to a felony related to his public duties, Sandoval is by law ineligible to collect his state pension. Unless the court directs the state pension system to garnish his contributions, however, Sandoval could apply for a refund of the $142,575.22 he has paid into the system. He had not applied for a refund as of Tuesday.
The investigation of Sandoval went public in September when federal agents executed a high-profile search of his office in Springfield and his home on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
The warrant showed the FBI was looking for items related to so-called Asphalt King Michael Vondra, a major Sandoval political donor whose offices in Bartlett were also visited by agents that day. The warrant named Vondra and about 20 of his businesses and associates, including John Harris, former chief of staff to imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Sandoval’s connections to ComEd — where his daughter, Angie, works as a senior account representative — have also been probed.
Authorities have also sought evidence from Sandoval’s office about Rick Heidner, a major video gambling operator. Heidner had planned to build a southwest suburban horse track and casino, but the plan was scuttled in October after the Tribune reported that Heidner has long-standing business relationships with a mob-connected banker and a convicted bookie.
Three days later after hitting Sandoval’s office, the FBI and Internal Revenue Service also raided government buildings in a number of suburbs in Sandoval’s district, including Lyons and McCook. Authorities have also sought records on the towns of Cicero, Bridgeview and Summit.
Records show the FBI has sought information on Cook County Commissioner and McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski and Lyons Mayor Christopher Getty as part of the probe.
Also under investigation is Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci, who resigned earlier this month on the same day the Tribune reported that he’d recently paid $30,000 from his campaign fund to a lawyer representing him in the probe.
None of the mayors has been charged with wrongdoing.
A separate probe delving into the lobbying practices of utility giant ComEd has led to FBI raids on current and former lawmakers and political operatives, including several who are close confidants of House Speaker Michael Madigan.
A paragraph has been revised to include the information that the source of the $70,000 in bribery money was the government.
Chicago Tribune’s Dan Petrella and David Heinzmann contributed.
mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com
jmahr@chicagotribune.com
