When longtime Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III had dinner in Chicago with a red-light camera executive back in July 2019, Jones gave him assurances about a potentially damaging bill he’d proposed to study the cameras and other automated traffic systems, prosecutors say.
Jones told him, “I got you.” But the feds say he didn’t stop there. When SafeSpeed partner Omar Maani asked how much money he could raise for Jones, the senator allegedly told him, “You can raise me five grand. That’d be good. … But most importantly, I have an intern working in my office … and I’m trying to find him another job.”
Jones allegedly passed the intern’s resume along days later and told Maani in an email, “had a great time at dinner last week, looking forward to the many more good times my friend.” But Jones also allegedly mocked Maani in a separate text message to the intern, joking about how Maani was “trying to make sure I don’t file my red light camera bill.”
“He thinks [dinner] will do it,” Jones wrote, according to prosecutors.
Now, new details have emerged about the bribery case against Jones, who is accused of agreeing to limit the study of traffic enforcement systems to Chicago in exchange for $5,000 and money for the intern. The Chicago Democrat, who remains in the state Senate more than two years after the feds leveled criminal charges against him, is set for trial April 7.
That means Jones could face a jury roughly two months after the historic corruption conviction of ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. The record-breaking former legislative leader was found guilty last week of a separate bribery scheme in the latest of several corruption trials to hit Chicago’s federal courthouse in recent years.
Multiple public officials have faced charges in connection with the feds’ probe of SafeSpeed deals, including the late state Sen. Martin Sandoval. SafeSpeed has not been charged with wrongdoing and has portrayed Maani as a rogue actor.
Maani struck a so-called deferred-prosecution agreement with the feds in 2020 and confirmed that he’d been cooperating with them. A bribery conspiracy charge filed against him was dismissed in May 2023. But now, Maani is expected to testify if Jones’ case goes to trial.
Earlier this month, attorneys in Jones’ case told U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood they were engaged in discussions about possibly resolving it “short of trial.” They asked the judge for a short extension of deadlines, which the judge granted, with a goal of reaching a decision by Feb. 10.
Now, the filing of motions and witness lists Tuesday suggests the case is still headed for a jury.
Prosecutors shared details of Jones’ July 17, 2019, dinner with Maani in a 35-page motion. They shared their meal at Steak 48, according to an exhibit list. Prosecutors say Maani asked if he could pay Jones $5,000 in a “creative way” and said “we have reporting requirements and everything, and I just don’t want to go down that path.”
Jones allegedly told him, “I get it.”
The feds also say Maani shared concern that an unnamed state representative would try to use Jones’ study to cast the red-light-camera industry in a negative light.
“I got you,” Jones allegedly said. “And I’ll protect you.”
The men had another dinner at Steak 48 on Aug. 8, 2019, prosecutors say. Jones allegedly recommended that Maani pay the intern $15 an hour, and Maani confirmed he would pay the intern based on 20 hours worked per week.
Jones also allegedly suggested that Maani sponsor an event for Jones in a bid to disguise the $5,000 payment. Prosecutors say Jones told Maani he was not as worried about the $5,000 as he was with the job for the intern.
“I will help [the intern] 100 percent,” Maani allegedly said. “And like I said before, if you could just help me out with the, ah, the study, to make it to Chicago.”
“You’re good,” Jones allegedly responded, later adding, “Ah, if I do file that bill, it will only be for Chicago.”
Prosecutors say Maani called Jones on Aug. 12, 2019, to say he didn’t have “any real work right now” for the intern but would still pay him “obviously for [Jones] helping me out with all this stuff with the bill” and the unnamed state representative. Jones allegedly said he understood.
The feds say Maani then paid the intern $1,800 over six weeks even though the intern did no work for him.
Jones allegedly lied to FBI agents on Sept. 24, 2019, when he claimed he didn’t know how much money Maani had agreed to pay the intern, that he did not discuss with Maani how Maani could contribute money to Jones, and that he did not agree to protect Maani from his proposed legislation.
On Feb. 21, 2020, prosecutors say Jones had another unrecorded interview with agents. They say he admitted that he agreed to limit the legislation to Chicago in return for a financial contribution and a job for the intern, and that he knew the intern was being paid by Maani even though the intern was not doing any work.
Jones is the son of former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr., who led the state Senate from 2003 until 2009.