Federal prosecutors said Tuesday the grand jury investigation into the alleged bribery scheme involving former House Speaker Michael Madigan remains active, but offered no hints on whether new charges will be brought in the high-profile case.

       Madigan has been the elephant in the courtroom since May, when lawyers for four people charged with conspiring to bribe the former speaker on behalf of utility giant Commonwealth Edison said they expect more charges were coming that would make it difficult for them to prepare for trial.

       During a telephonic status hearing Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber himself tried to pry some information from prosecutors on the possibility of a superseding indictment, but all they would say was that the investigation was ongoing and they were “not at liberty to publicly discuss grand jury matters.”

       “The government at this time has no further information regarding whether there will be a superseding indictment,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker said.

       A superseding indictment typically brings new defendants to an existing case, though sometimes they add only new charges for those already named.

       At the request of the defense teams, Leinenweber then set a tentative trial date for the four defendants for Sept. 12, 2022. Prosecutors said their case in chief would take about four weeks.

       Prosecutors also said Tuesday they’re still in the process of turning over records and evidence in the case, with the most recent “large production” made in late-June. Another discovery production was “being loaded now,” Streicker said.

       The feds had previously turned over more than a million pages of records in discovery as well as discs containing wiretapped calls and other electronic evidence.

       A status hearing in the case was scheduled for Oct. 21.

       Madigan, 79, who lost the speaker’s gavel in January and later resigned from his House seat after holding it slightly more than 50 years, has not been charged and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

       A 50-page indictment returned in November charged Michael McClain, an ex-lobbyist and one of Madigan’s top confidants; former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker; former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore; and Jay Doherty, a consultant and former head of the City Club of Chicago.

       Lobbyist Mike McClain talks to a woman outside House Speaker Michael Madigan's office at the State Capitol in Springfield on May 25, 2012. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

       All four have pleaded not guilty to bribery conspiracy charges.

       Another former ComEd executive, Fidel Marquez, was later charged with bribery conspiracy and pleaded guilty in October to his role in the scheme.

       ComEd, meanwhile, admitted to the scheme as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office, agreeing to pay a record $200 million fine and cooperate with investigators in exchange for the charges being dropped in three years.

       The indictment alleged that beginning in 2011, the defendants “arranged for various associates” of Madigan — including his political allies and campaign workers — to “obtain jobs, contracts and monetary payments” from ComEd even in instances where they did little or no actual work.

       McClain and the other defendants also conspired to have ComEd hire a Madigan-favored law firm and lawyer, previously identified in public testimony as Victor Reyes of Reyes Kurson, and to accept into ComEd’s summer internship program a certain number of students who lived in Madigan’s 13th Ward, according to the charges.

       Pramaggiore and McClain also allegedly took steps to have an individual appointed to ComEd’s board of directors at the request of Madigan and McClain, the indictment stated. The Tribune has identified the appointee as Juan Ochoa, the former head of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Chicago.

       jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

       Prosecutors in ComEd bribery case orbiting Madigan offer no hints on new charges as judge sets trial date for next year

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