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• Content META

  Title	New details emerge in bribery case against Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III
  ID	7082317
  External ID	7564711508
  Author	Jason Meisner
  Published Date	Feb. 19, 2025, 4:25 p.m.
  Summary	If the case does go to trial, Jones would be the first sitting elected official to face a jury in Chicago's federal courthouse since then-Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, who was convicted in 2021 of tax-
  Tags	None
  URL	https://herald-review.com/news/state-regional/crime-courts/new-details-emerge-in-bribery-case-against-illinois-sen-emil-jones-iii/article_a5ae158c-ed2a-52e4-8185-c0ed7a8d9532.html
  Sentiment	Negative: 0.48792    Neutral: 0.47828    Positive: 0.03379
  Relevance	0.00758

• Content Details

  Content ID	4430451
  Key	15c47ae1-8e5c-4a49-9fce-e39277e7e06b
  Content	If the case does go to trial, Jones would be the first sitting elected official to face a jury in Chicago's federal courthouse since then-Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, who was convicted in 2021 of tax-related charges while still in office. CHICAGO — State Sen. Emil Jones was dining at a downtown Chicago steakhouse with a clout-heavy red light camera company executive in the summer of 2019 when the executive expressed concern about Jones' pending bill requiring a study on the ubiquitous and publicly maligned automated traffic systems. Jones' lawyer, Victor Henderson, did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Jones' case has unfolded in strange fashion from the start. After he was charged in 2022, Jones, who has held his seat he took over from his powerful father, then-Senate President Emil Jones Jr., since 2009, resisted calls from his own party leaders to step down. Four days after his arraignment, Jones, running unopposed, was reelected to a fifth term, despite being charged by the U.S. attorney's office via a criminal information, which is typically a sign a defendant intends to quickly plead guilty. Instead, however, Jones changed legal teams and demanded trial. The U.S. attorney's office, meanwhile, never brought the case to a grand jury to secure an indictment, leaving the original, six-page information filed in September 2022 as the only document on the docket laying out the allegations — until now. Jones, 46, was charged with bribery and lying to federal agents. The most serious charge carries up to 10 years in prison, while the others have a five-year maximum term, according to federal prosecutors. Jones had introduced a bill in the Senate in February 2019 that would have required the Illinois Department of Transportation to conduct a statewide study of automated traffic law enforcement systems, including red-light cameras such as those operated by SafeSpeed, according to the charges. The charges alleged Jones agreed with Maani to “protect” SafeSpeed by limiting any traffic studies to the city of Chicago, excluding the suburbs where the company does much of its business. In exchange, Jones took $5,000 in benefits and wanted a job and additional payments for his intern, identified as Individual B, according to the charges. At one meeting in August 2019, Jones told Maani that if he contributed $5,000 by sponsoring an event, they “would not have to report that contribution” on state campaign funding reports, the charges alleged. On Sept. 24, 2019, the day the FBI raided the offices of then-powerful state Sen. Martin Sandoval, the head of the Transportation Committee, Jones was interviewed by agents. According to the charges, he lied by saying he had not agreed to protect SafeSpeed in exchange for Maani hiring or paying Individual B and had not discussed any plan with Maani to skirt campaign financing disclosures. Records from the Illinois General Assembly show that Jones' proposal was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee on Nov. 19, 2019, which at the time was no longer being headed by Sandoval because he had stepped down as head of the panel in October of that year amid the federal investigation. Sandoval would eventually be indicted and plead guilty to bribery-related corruption counts, but he died of COVID-19 complications in December 2020 while cooperating with the government. The red-light camera investigation ensnared more than a dozen politicians, political operatives and businessmen, many of whom were either moonlighting for SafeSpeed as consultants or had direct influence on just how much money the company could rake in. SafeSpeed and its president, Nikki Zollar, have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying Maani was operating without the company's knowledge or approval. Maani, who was given a deferred prosecution by the U.S. attorney's office in exchange for his cooperation, is no longer affiliated with the company. Because everyone targeted in the probe other than Jones pleaded guilty, Maani has never testified publicly about his turn as an FBI mole, and was never even required to step foot in open court due to pandemic-related restrictions at the time. That would change if Jones' case goes to trial. The filings by prosecutors on Tuesday show that Maani would be the star witness, testifying about the meeting at Steak 48 and others with Jones and Sandoval at Gibsons Steakhouse later that summer. Prosecutors also attached an exhibit list detailing a number of wiretapped phone calls and at least one email from Zollar from 2016 about “E. Jones senate resolution.” Records from the General Assembly show that on the same day as Zollar's email, May 24, 2016, Jones introduced a Senate resolution calling for an audit of automated traffic enforcement systems, noting that data showed they did not reduce crashes and that “municipal officials and camera company executives have been arrested in red light camera corruption schemes.” The resolution, which came three years before Maani's alleged agreement to bribe Jones, died in committee and was never voted on, legislative records show. The prosecution filing also revealed for the first time that at their dinner at Steak 48, Maani told Jones he was worried an unnamed state representative, identified only as State Representative A, would try to use Jones' study to cast the red-light-camera industry in a negative light. “I got you,” Jones said, according to the filing. “And I'll protect you from (State Representative A).” A few days later, Jones sent an email to Maani thanking him for the dinner and attaching his intern's resume, the filing alleged. “Looking forward to the many more good times my friend,” Jones allegedly wrote. Jones also appeared to make fun of Maani in a text to his intern that day, writing, “LMAO trying to make sure i don't file my red light camera bill anymore. He thinks (dinner) will do it,” according to the filing. Three weeks later, Maani and Jones had another dinner at Steak 48, where they allegedly discussed having Jones' intern work directly for Maani instead of SafeSpeed to hide their corrupt relationship, according to the prosecution filing. Maani agreed to pay the intern $15 an hour, based on 20 hours worked per week. Later in that dinner, Jones allegedly suggested Maani hide the $5,000 payment to Jones by sponsoring an event for him, saying the payment would not show up on his campaign finance reports. Maani again said he needed to conceal his involvement in any exchange. “I feel you,” Jones allegedly responded. “I will help (Jones' intern) 100 percent,” Maani said. “And like I said before, if you could just help me with the, ah, the study, to make it to (just) Chicago.” “You're good,” Jones allegedly said, later adding, “If I do file that bill it will only be for Chicago.” A few days after that dinner, Maani called Jones to let him know he didn't have “any real work right now” for the intern, but would still pay him, “obviously for you helping me out with all this stuff with the bill and (State Representative A),” the filing stated. Jones allegedly replied that he understood. Maani eventually paid Jones' intern a total of $1,800 over six weeks even though he'd performed no work for Maani or SafeSpeed, the prosecution filing stated. The intern has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Jones' father was one of the state's most powerful machine Democrats who often batted away allegations of nepotism and famously gave a boost to the budding political career of Barack Obama, who rose from the Illinois Senate to eventually become president. In a statement after Jones III was charged, the former Senate president defended his son, saying the charges “do not reflect the man he is.” “Everyone knows he is an honest, hardworking legislator,” Jones Jr. said. “I intend to fight with him and stand alongside him throughout this process.” Jones III is among a handful of politicians to be charged in the sweeping federal investigation centered on red-light cameras installed by SafeSpeed LLC, a once clout-heavy camera company that secured contracts to run red-light cameras in nearly two dozen Chicago suburbs that generated millions of dollars in fines from motorists annually. Gov. JB Pritzker announces $31 million in Regional Site Readiness Program grant awards.
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• Publisher

  Publisher Name	Herald & Review (Decatur, IL) (#4188)
  Publisher URL	https://herald-review.com/
  Description	None
  Trust Flow Score	57
  Citation Flow Score	40

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  Data Source Name	Quantexa News (#5)
  Data Source Type	news
  Data Source URL	https://app.aylien.com/dashboard
  Description	Welcome to Quantexa News API — the most powerful way to aggregate, filter, and integrate global news data into your apps and models.
  Weight	10