Viagra, massage parlors and a suitcase full of “Chinese money.”
Notorious former Ald. Danny Solis (25th) took questions about all three Monday, not to mention an affair, his dismal personal finances, and an offer from his sister that prompted a separate FBI wiretap.
But Solis seemed most embarrassed when a prosecutor asked him why he dropped the words “quid pro quo” into a June 2017 chat with then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, a year after Solis began working undercover for the FBI.
“I don’t know, it was dumb,” Solis said. “I thought it was too blunt.”
Prosecutors allege that Madigan took the bait anyway, pulling Solis aside ahead of a later meeting with developers. In a recording viewed by jurors Monday, Madigan took Solis into his private office, closed the door and — in a whisper — said “you shouldn’t be talking like that.”
“You’re just recommending,” Madigan told Solis. “Because if they don’t get a good result on their real estate taxes, the whole project will be in trouble.”
The videos played in court Monday took jurors back as many as 10 years to times when Madigan and Solis were visibly younger, sported far less gray hair, and discussed politicians such as then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, who — like Madigan and Solis — have since left office.
Now Madigan, 82, is on trial for a racketeering conspiracy, and Solis, 75, is the star witness in the case. Still, for much of Monday morning, Solis seemed to be the one on trial. Solis agreed to wear a wire for the FBI in June 2016 only after agents confronted him with evidence of his own wrongdoing.
The deal he struck will likely save him from prison — or even a criminal conviction — if he holds up his end of the bargain.
It also meant Solis might have to answer for his various transgressions on the witness stand one day. That day finally arrived Monday, when prosecutors chose to be up front with jurors about Solis’ dirty laundry. They did so in anticipation of what’s sure to be a blistering cross-examination.
Solis appeared to again avoid eye contact with Madigan, as he did when his testimony began Thursday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur had to remind Solis at times to speak into a microphone. And at one point, Solis actually asked U.S. District Judge John Blakey for permission to stand as he answered questions because his back hurt.
The former City Council member stood but then leaned forward to view images on a screen and to speak into a microphone. He sat back down after about a minute.
Solis testified for the first time about the day he’d been confronted by the FBI on June 1, 2016. Solis said he was “shocked,” “afraid,” and “nervous.” He said they played recordings for him, including one of an Aug. 18, 2014, meeting in which Madigan and Solis were secretly recorded by another developer, See Wong.
Jurors also saw that recording Monday.
Viagra and massages that ‘turned sexual’
Solis acknowledged Monday that he took favors from developers, even when they had business in front of the Zoning Committee, that included tickets to sporting events, free trips and more.
He acknowledged that onetime political operative Roberto Caldero — who is now in prison for bribery — arranged for massages for Solis that “turned sexual.” Solis admitted that Caldero and Monterrey Security founder Juan Gaytan gave him Viagra, which Solis said was more “convenient” than getting a prescription.
Gaytan paid for Solis to travel to Las Vegas in 2015, jurors heard. And they learned how developer Fred Latsko let Solis throw a graduation party for his son at Latsko’s Indiana farm.
Solis said he tipped the staff there but paid nothing else.
Solis testified that his sister, former Hillary Clinton 2008 campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, once told him the developer of the Nobu Hotel project offered her $100,000 to help move approvals along for the project. “She said she could split it with me,” Solis told the jury.
Though Solis claims he told his sister that would be illegal, he said she told him “there would be another way that she could compensate me.”
FBI Special Agent Ryan McDonald testified Thursday that investigators overheard that conversation after wiretapping Solis’ phone, and they then began their own wiretap of Solis Doyle’s phone calls.
Solis testified Monday that he didn’t know if his sister ever received that money. McDonald testified last week that the Solis Doyle wiretap was not fruitful, and she was never charged with any wrongdoing.
However, Solis Doyle also co-founded a company called Vendor Assistance Program with her brother’s confidant, Brian Hynes. The company served as a financial crutch for state vendors who were late in receiving payments from Springfield because of budget constraints.
It was a wildly successful venture that yielded hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for VAP. And when Solis Doyle chose to sell her stake in the company, she steered “over $200,000” to her brother, Solis testified.
A hotel bed and a suitcase full of ‘Chinese money’
Solis needed the money. He testified about how his home wound up in foreclosure after the Great Recession in 2008. He said he and his wife separated after she learned that he’d had an affair with a woman he met during travels to Asia. Solis said his credit was destroyed, and he wound up having to pay rent on two homes in addition to expenses for his wife and son.
Meanwhile, Solis said the woman he’d had an affair with helped him connect with a Chinese businessman, who had some interest in an EB-5 program Solis was involved in with Hynes and Solis Doyle.
That was a U.S. visa program that granted residency to foreign individuals who invested in economic development projects.
Solis told jurors about an incident in which the businessman wound up putting a suitcase on a hotel bed in China, filled with what Solis described as $10,000 “in Chinese money.” Solis said the woman he’d had an affair with took the money and used it to furnish an apartment here.
Jurors listened to all of that before MacArthur finally began to take Solis into the heart of his testimony. Prosecutors say Madigan took advantage of Solis’ powerful position as zoning chair to steer business toward his private tax appeals law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner.
‘How this works, you know, the quid pro quo’
The feds have pointed to three separate schemes, and MacArthur walked Solis on Monday through two that are closely intertwined. It all began when Madigan reached out to Solis about the Union West apartment development in the West Loop on June 12, 2017.
MacArthur played recorded phone calls in which Madigan told Solis he’d like to get to know the project’s developers. Solis told Madigan on June 23, 2017, that he’d set up a meeting.
“And I think they understand how this works, you know, the quid pro quo,” Solis said.
When MacArthur asked Solis on Monday why he made the comment, Solis just seemed to shake his head and complained that it was a “dumb” thing to say. By then, Solis had been working undercover for the FBI for about a year. He said agents didn’t ask him to say it.
“Is that something you did on your own?” MacArthur asked.
“Yes,” Solis testified.
But when Madigan and Solis finally met with the ZOM Living representatives behind the Union West project, jurors saw how Madigan pulled Solis into his office to quietly scold him about the comment.
Solis’ camera captured Madigan’s face as the speaker told him “you’re just recommending … because if they don’t get a good result on their real estate taxes, the whole project will be in trouble.”
It’s a moment that Madigan’s defense attorneys will certainly interpret differently when they get their turn with Solis and the jury.
Meanwhile, Solis used his meetings with Madigan to discuss another project that would become part of the case against the former speaker. Developers were interested in building a hotel on a state-owned piece of land where a parking lot could be found in Chinatown.
However, Madigan felt it was best for him to not be openly involved in the project because of his feud at the time with Rauner. During one call with Solis, Madigan told Solis to have developer Ray Chin “talk to a man named Mike McClain.”
Jurors are likely to hear more about that episode when Solis’ testimony resumes Tuesday.
But first, before testimony wrapped Monday, they heard additional calls from September 2017 in which Solis discussed the Union West and Chinatown projects with Madigan. A zoning change for the Union West project was pending before Solis’ committee at the time.
Solis told Madigan, “I’m gonna be deciding on this development over in the West Loop. … But I wanted to know if you had done anything with them yet.”
Madigan told Solis that, “I’m almost positive the answer is yes,” but he said he wanted to check with his partner at the firm.
The two politicians wound up playing phone tag over the next few days. Finally, on Sept. 11, 2017, Solis told Madigan “you were gonna get back to me whether they had actually, umm, contacted your firm or not.”
“You know, you should go ahead and process that,” Madigan told him. “You were contemplating processing something. You should go ahead and process that.”
After playing a recording of that call in court Monday, MacArthur asked Solis whether Madigan plainly told him he should approve the zoning ordinance.
“No,” Solis said. “Did he say that? No.”
Solis confirmed that he didn’t need Madigan’s permission, either.