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Former ComEd CEO Sentenced To A Two Year Prison Term And Fined $750,000 In “ComEd Four” Bribery Scheme

Category: Illinois

Former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison and fined $750,000. The U.S. District Judge Manish Shah judge based the imprisonment sentence and $750,000 fine on guilty verdicts for cooking ComEd’s books to mask the payments and an overarching conspiracy charge, by saying “[y]ou did participate in a quid pro quo,” Shah said after siding with prosecutors’ post-trial claims that she perjured herself while testifying in her own defense, which amounted to obstruction of justice.Pramaggiore is scheduled to turn herself in to authorities and begin serving her prison sentence Dec. 1, 2025.

Pramaggiore took over as ComEd’s CEO in 2012, a position she maintained until she was promoted to the role of senior executive vice president and CEO of ComEd’s parent company, Exelon Utilities, in 2018.

Pramaggiore is the third of the “ComEd Four” to face sentencing after their 2023 convictions on bribing ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan via jobs and contracts for his political allies. The three other co-defendants include ex-ComEd lobbyist Jay Doherty, ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and another ComEd top contract lobbyist, Mike McClain.

The four did so by arranging for ComEd to pay $1.3 million to Former House Speaker Michael Madigan allies who were hired as subcontractors, but who actually did little or no work for the utility company.

Rather than paying them directly, prosecutors said these co-defendants arranged for payments to be paid through an intermediary — Doherty — in an effort to conceal the payments. Jurors at trial heard numerous secretly recorded conversations in which Hooker and his codefendants discussed these plans.

On July 14, 2025, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker received 18 months in prison for role in Madigan bribery scheme. U.S. District Judge Manish Shah said in handing down the sentence, “[h]iding transactions is how corruption succeeds and festers.”. “Refusing to say ‘No, this is not how legislation should be done’ … that caused the state government to fail to live up to its promise to the people.” Hooker was also ordered to pay a fine of $500,000 as part of his sentence.On July 24, the third member of the so-called ComEd Four – Michael McClain was sentenced to two years in prison. McClain must report to prison Oct. 30. McClain was also a co-defendant in Madigan’s trial.

ComEd allegedly paid out more than $1.3 million to a handful of Madigan associates with the expectation that the speaker would help them in Springfield.
“I would say to you don’t put anything in writing,” McClain was heard saying in an undercover recording.
At trial, McClain was often seen and heard discussing the “no-show jobs” and their concealment, as dozens of undercover recordings were played for the jury. “We’re not monitoring his workload. Whether or not Mike Zalewki’s earning his five grand a month, that’s up to Jay Doherty,” McClain was heard saying.

Jay Doherty, who agreed to be a pass-through for payments to the no-work Madigan allies, is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 5th.
Former House Speaker Michael Madigan was convicted at a separate trial earlier this year and was sentenced in June to more than seven years in prison.