A seemingly routine arraignment for former Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis took a turn Wednesday when prosecutors revealed that the city may try to intervene in the bombshell case as a victim of Solis’ alleged corruption.
The revelation came shortly after Solis, the former 25th Ward alderman who wore an undercover wire to help build cases against Ald. Edward Burke and ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan, entered a not guilty plea to a bribery count filed last week.
The arraignment was the first public hearing stemming from Solis’ unprecedented deal with prosecutors, who have agreed to drop the case against him in three years in exchange for his extensive and continued cooperation.
Solis’ plea was a formality and the hearing, which was held by telephone due to COVID-19 protocols, was largely by-the-book.
But before the proceedings wrapped up, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu told the judge he’d learned earlier Wednesday that the city of Chicago may want to intervene in Solis’ case as a victim, and would object to the exclusion of time, a routine move that avoids conflict with a defendant’s speedy trial rights.
Bhachu said that while the U.S. attorney’s office “always invites the participation of victims in criminal cases,” he thought it was “doubtful” that the city would legally qualify as a victim given the facts of the Solis case.
After hearing from both sides, U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood agreed to give the city attorneys a week to “appear and make a filing” concerning the potential request. A status hearing was set for April 21.
Hours later, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has been highly critical of Solis’ deal, issued a statement that called him out for violating the public trust “in profound ways” but stopped short of any seeming attempt to derail the deferred prosecution.
Instead, Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, said she had instructed the Law Department to file a victim impact statement with the court.
Such statements are typically part of a defendant’s sentencing hearing. But if Solis is never convicted, it’s unclear what, if any, weight a judge would give to unsolicited comment from the city, placing the move more in the realm of public impression rather than giving it any real teeth.
“Because of all of the crimes that have been put on the public record, Solis victimized the residents of his ward and residents in the entire city, all of whom were deprived of the integrity and honesty that should be sacrosanct with all public officials,” the mayor said. “No one is above the law and Chicago residents expect that their elected officials will be held accountable.”
It’s not the first time Lightfoot has been critical of Solis. After the Tribune reported on Solis collecting his pension after leaving office in 2019, Lightfoot said she was “confident he will face a moment of reckoning.”
“What that will be, when that will be, that is not under my control,” Lightfoot said that fall.
She has since publicly and privately criticized the deal prosecutors reached with Solis, calling it “unconscionable” that he might not face a conviction or lose his pension.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s hearing marked the first time — and possibly the last — Solis will be required to appear in court other than to testify or see his case officially dropped.
How long that will take is an open question. Burke, who has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges, still has no trial date nearly three years after he was indicted. Madigan, meanwhile, was charged only last month in a separate racketeering case that could take several years to go to trial.
During Wednesday’s 45-minute hearing, Solis spoke calmly and succinctly as he answered a series of questions by the judge about his understanding of the proceedings and competency to make decisions.
“My name is Daniel Solis,” the 72-year-old former alderman said when asked to identify himself. Later, when asked to enter his plea to the charge, Solis said, “I plead not guilty, your honor.”
Solis was allowed to remain free on bond pending resolution of the case.
The deferred prosecution deal was signed by Solis on the day after Christmas 2018 and kept secret for nearly 3 1/2 years before the U.S. attorney’s office on Tuesday finally put it on the record.
The bare-bones, one-count criminal information alleged Solis corruptly solicited campaign donations from an unidentified real estate developer in exchange for zoning changes in 2015, when Solis was head of the City Council Zoning Committee.
A statement of facts, which Solis admitted to as part of the deal, linked the scheme to $15,000 in campaign donations related to the Michigan Avenue Real Estate Group, a developer backed by Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf that was seeking Solis’ help with zoning on a project to put a residential building on the former Carmichael’s Chicago steakhouse.
Unbeknown to Solis at the time, the FBI was listening in on his phone calls, and agents recorded a July 2015 conversation where one of the alderman’s aides warned about the optics of hitting up the group’s top executive, Tom Meador, for campaign donations so soon in advance of approving their zoning change.
Solis disregarded the advice, telling the aide that Meador and his associates should be able to structure it so it would not look suspicious, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed in 2019.
“They should be smart enough to figure out how they can give me a contribution, you know, not necessarily connecting with them, so I’m just gonna tell them,” Solis allegedly said on the wiretapped call.
“Yeah, absolutely, I’m sure,” the unidentified aide replied, according to the affidavit. “He’s got like 25 LLCs.”
On Aug. 26, 2015, two other executives from Michigan Avenue Real Estate Group — Al Lieberman and Robert Judelson — each donated $5,000 to Solis’ campaign fund, according to details contained in the deferred prosecution agreement and state election board records.
Two days later, Solis asked one of the developer’s representatives if they were going to his annual fundraiser in September 2015, which the representative confirmed, according to Solis’ agreement with prosecutors.
Solis chaired the Zoning Committee meeting on Sept. 21, 2015, where Developer A’s zoning change was recommended. On that same day, a third executive from the company donated another $5,000 to Solis’ 25th Ward fund, the agreement stated.
The change was passed by the full City Council three days later, with Solis voting in favor of the project, the agreement stated.
No one else has been charged as part of the alleged bribery scheme.
baiduhai’s Gregory Pratt contributed.