Michael Madigan’s Fallout: Watch Developer Y. Wong Get 16 Months in Jail for Recording Illinois House Speakers

An FBI-collaborating developer who acted as the “catalyst” leading to the indictment of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was sentenced to 16 months in prison for an unrelated fraud scheme.

U.S. District Court Judge Franklin Valderrama said: See Y. Wong before handing down the verdict. They described the fortunes they had lost to fraud following the 2008 housing market crash and how they had suffered over the years.

Later, before the sentence was handed down, Wong told the judge that he was “very sorry” and regretted his crime.

“A lot of people got hurt because of my mistake,” Wong said. “I want to sincerely apologize to all of them. The mistake I made is unforgivable. I have learned a great lesson. I promise and guarantee that I will never do anything like this again.”

Wong pleaded guilty to wire transfers in late 2020. According to prosecutors, he lured buyers into his condominium development known as Canal Crossing by promising a discount of 40% to his 50% in exchange for a full upfront payment. But federal officials say he had no authority to propose the deal. He then used fake documents to lie to Cathay Bank to make it appear that the unit was sold at full price.

When the fraud was discovered, Wong’s victims had to pay the actual price of the rest of the condo or confiscate the amount they paid, prosecutors said. He was one of the victims who said he “devastated” them.

Meanwhile, Wong began providing information to the FBI in May 2014, hoping to get leniency in the sentencing. Madigan indictment this yearonce the most powerful politician in the state.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bachu wrote in a court memo last month that Wong “provided significant cooperation” and helped the federal government “expose other criminal acts by elected officials.” On Wednesday, he admitted that “there were a lot of things that had to go wrong.”But he said Wong’s cooperation provided the “catalyst” To federal efforts to hold people accountable.

chicago sun-times Won was first identified in January 2019 He reported recording Madigan and later Aldo. Danny Solis in 2014 (No. 25).

Details of Wong’s cooperation It was included in a 120-page federal court affidavit first obtained by The Sun-Times. He has agreed to take action in his official capacity as a member of Congress.”

At Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Wong’s attorney Daniel Hessler took to the front page of The Sun-Times, which published a January 2019 report, saying Wong had “lived in the shadows” of what he did to the court. told the officer.

In 2014, Wong represented a Chinese businessman seeking zoning changes in Chinatown to build a hotel on South Archer Avenue. To secure that zoning change, he turned to Solis, then head of the city council’s zoning committee. He then ended with his August 2014 meeting with Solis and Madigan.

The meeting was held at Madigan & Götzendanner, a private law firm in Madigan. During the meeting, Madigan revealed his interest in long-term contracts with hotel developers.

“I’m not interested in instant death here,” Madigan said at the meeting.

In addition to the hotel, it seems that the men were also discussing Parking at Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue — property that became part of Madigan’s indictment last March.

Two years later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confronted Solis with evidence of wrongdoing. It followed an investigation involving Wong’s cooperation and other alleged schemes.Solis is now indicted for bribery, but is also breaking his contract with the federal government. Now he was finally able to avoid his conviction entirely through his own cooperation with Madigan. indicted Aldo. Edward M. Burke (14th) others.