Jon Seidel
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago, IL, United States
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Past articles by Jon:
‘El Chapo’ son extradited to Chicago to face drug conspiracy charges
El Chapo also faced federal drug charges in Chicago, but was ultimately was prosecuted in federal court in Brooklyn. Now his son will likely be arraigned at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago’s Loop. → Read More
Feds confirm they don’t intend to call Danny Solis in Burke trial, want FBI agents to share secret recordings instead
The recorded meetings at issue took place between 2016 and 2018. They were all audio recorded, “and most were also video recorded.” → Read More
Feds tell Ed Burke’s lawyers they don’t plan to call Danny Solis at racketeering trial
Prosecutors have called former Ald. Danny Solis one of Chicago’s “most significant cooperators in the last several decades.” He also helped them build a case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. → Read More
Three women who brought #MeToo allegations against Madigan circle find relief and hope in guilty verdict of ex-top aide
The women went public with accusations of harassment, retaliation and cover-up by Madigan and those around him. Although the trial focused on charges that Mapes lied to a grand jury, the women say the verdict will still send a message to other victims. → Read More
Jury takes 5 hours to convict Madigan’s ex-top aide of perjury, attempted obstruction of justice: ‘This should stand as a clear message’
Tim Mapes, the former chief of staff to onetime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, is the seventh person to be convicted by a federal jury in Chicago this year as a result of public corruption investigations. → Read More
Jury begins deliberations in perjury trial of ex-top aide to Madigan after feds hammer at ‘brazen’ and ‘preposterous’ lies
Tim Mapes, longtime chief of staff to one of Illinois’ most powerful politicians, listened as a federal prosecutor accused him of flaunting his oath to tell the truth, committing crimes and choosing “Team Madigan” as a grand jury closed in on his old boss. → Read More
Wife of ex-top aide to Madigan says he was ‘very sullen, very depressed ... as if he was lost’ after being sacked
Witnesses in the perjury trial of Tim Mapes have said they found his forced resignation in June 2018 to be surprising, unexpected, traumatic. But Tuesday, jurors heard Mapes’ wife describe how he handled being fired amid a #MeToo wave at the Capitol. → Read More
Prosecutors rest case in perjury trial of ex-top aide to Madigan after jurors hear more secret recordings
Defense lawyers for Tim Mapes are expected to call witnesses of their own over the next day or so. They said they weren’t sure whether Mapes would take the stand in his own defense, though it seems unlikely. → Read More
Feds nearly done laying out perjury case against ex-top aide to Michael Madigan
Jurors hear additional recordings that seemed to show the close relationship between Tim Mapes and Michael McClain. → Read More
Feds pile on more secret recordings allegedly showing ex-top aide to Madigan lied to grand jury. ‘Will you be wearing your big boy pants?’
Prosecutors have used a monthslong wiretap of Michael Madigan confidant Michael McClain’s phone to make their case that Tim Mapes lied in 2021 and tried to block the feds’ aggressive investigation of Madigan and McClain. → Read More
Jurors hear secret FBI recordings of ex-top aide to Madigan, then hear him allegedly lying to a grand jury
Tim Mapes is on trial for perjury and attempted obstruction of justice for allegedly trying to block the feds’ investigation of Michael Madigan and Michael McClain, who face criminal charges of their own. → Read More
Ex-top aide to Madigan kept the former House speaker’s lawyer informed about meeting with FBI agents, prosecutors say
Details about the case against Timothy Mapes were revealed in a 65-page document filed by prosecutors early Tuesday morning, four weeks ahead of Mapes’ trial on perjury and attempted obstruction of justice charges. → Read More
Federal appeals court considering Illinois assault weapons ban questions ‘popularity contest’ for guns
The arguments before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took place five days before the anniversary of the mass shooting during Highland Park’s Fourth of July parade, which prompted the assault-weapons ban. → Read More
Woman gets three years for helping brother hide more than $300,000 after collapse of Bridgeport bank
Jan Kowalski pleaded guilty last year to concealing assets from a bankruptcy trustee. She helped her brother, Robert Kowalski, hide more than $357,000 while representing him as an attorney in bankruptcy court. → Read More
Sentencing of former state Sen. Terry Link set for October
Link’s entanglement with the feds first became known in October 2019, when the Chicago Sun-Times and other media reported he was the unnamed state senator who wore a wire against then-state Rep. Luis Arroyo. Link lied to reporters at the time and claimed it wasn’t him. → Read More
Madigan’s ex-chief of staff wants judge to block feds from playing roughly 100 recordings at perjury trial
They also revealed that the FBI tried to convince Tim Mapes to work as a “confidential witness” during a meeting in Springfield in February 2019. Mapes “politely declined.” → Read More
Ex-Proud Boy from Aurora gets more than three years in prison for Jan. 6 Capitol assault
James Robert Elliott claims he was “filled with frustration, at the government, at Trump, at law-enforcement and also at myself” in the days after the riot. → Read More
Ex-Proud Boy from Aurora gets more than 3 years in prison for Jan. 6 Capitol assault
James Robert Elliott claims he was “filled with frustration, at the government, at Trump, at law enforcement and also at myself” in the days after the riot. → Read More
Heather Mack pleads guilty to plotting mother’s 2014 murder in Bali
Mack has given varying explanations over the years of what happened to her mother at the Bali resort in August 2014. Oak Park police had been called to their home in the western suburb 86 times in the years before the killing. → Read More
Businessman James Weiss guilty of bribing 2 Illinois lawmakers
The verdict is the second in less than two months to address separate bribery schemes inside the Illinois Capitol. Weiss is a son-in-law of former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios. → Read More