Inside AT&T’s alleged ‘conspiracy’ to bribe powerbrokers at the Illinois Capitol

For greater than a decade, Brian Grey was AT&T’s prime government in Illinois for a vital space — coping with politicians in a state recognized for its corruption.

Because the director of legislative affairs, he oversaw a steady of lobbyists, and in recent times he additionally headed the telecom large’s political motion committee in Illinois.

Grey had joined AT&T in 2000 after serving as a navy pilot and rising to the rank of commander within the U.S. Navy, in response to his on-line skilled networking profile.

However Grey was one in all two longtime executives who stopped working for AT&T in Springfield final month after a few years as lobbyists, information present.

And sources near the continuing federal investigation into political corruption on the Illinois Capitol say Grey was one of many three unnamed and unindicted staff referred to by authorities within the case filed final week towards their one-time boss, the previous AT&T President Paul La Schiazza.

La Schiazza pleaded not responsible to 5 felony counts Friday in his first look in U.S. District Court docket in Chicago.

AT&T is cooperating with the feds and guarantees to pay a $23 million tremendous after admitting it used unlawful means in efforts to win assist for favorable laws from former Illinois Home Speaker and state Democratic boss Michael Madigan.

Prosecutors say AT&T organized $22,500 in funds for a retired state lawmaker and Madigan ally, whom the Solar-Instances has recognized as Edward Acevedo. That deal was ostensibly for consulting, however allegedly Acevedo did no precise work, prosecutors say, and in change AT&T acquired approval in 2017 of a proposal lifting the requirement that the cellphone firm proceed offering landline service in Illinois.

Madigan faces related costs that Commonwealth Edison, the state-regulated energy firm, bribed him by handing out ghost consulting gigs to a number of of the then-speaker’s cronies. Though ComEd additionally reached a take care of prosecutors, Madigan has denied wrongdoing.

Now, WBEZ and the Solar-Instances have discovered the identities of the three different AT&T executives whose roles within the alleged conspiracy are described within the current indictment of La Schiazza. Prosecutors publicly have described the three solely as “Particular person ATT-1,” “Particular person ATT-2” and “Particular person ATT-3.”

Sources near the investigation say the three staff are former firm lobbyists Robert Barry, Stephen Selcke and Grey.

All three males now not work for the cellphone firm. Not one of the three former executives have been charged with wrongdoing, and so they couldn’t be reached for remark Friday.

A spokesman for Dallas-based AT&T declined to reply questions on Grey, Barry and Selcke however has stated firm executives and their contractors had “the very best moral requirements” and have been “dedicated to making sure this by no means occurs once more.”

In accordance with state lobbyist-disclosure paperwork, Grey and Barry canceled their registrations as lobbyists for AT&T Illinois on Sept. 1. Selcke stopped lobbying for the corporate in January 2020, information present.

In courtroom information, the feds described the roles of the three ex-executives of AT&T in what was described as a secret effort to funnel cash to Acevedo.

Prosecutors say they obtained a flurry of emails involving La Schiazza and the lobbyists exhibiting that they mentioned the allegedly faux consulting deal for Acevedo and sought assurances that it might result in the favorable laws the corporate had been looking for in Springfield.

In accordance with courtroom information, “Particular person ATT-3” turned in what the feds say was a “false justification by way of e mail to a fellow AT&T worker” for the funds that ended up going to Acevedo, who had served as a state consultant for a South Aspect district.

Acevedo has not been charged within the scheme however pleaded responsible final 12 months to tax evasion and is in jail in North Carolina, in response to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

In his LinkedIn profile, Grey says he was AT&T Illinois’ director of legislative affairs, with places of work in Chicago and Springfield, from June 2012 till final month. That included representing the corporate in Springfield and 130 municipalities in Cook dinner County.

Grey additionally wrote that he “optimized and executed AT&T Illinois’ Political Contributions (company and PAC) price range and political occasions technique to finest place AT&T” from 2019 till he left.

For almost three years earlier than working for the corporate in Illinois, he was primarily based in Brussels as AT&T’s director of worldwide public affairs within the European Union nations.

As a Navy pilot, he stated, he was “deployed to the Korean peninsula and Persian Gulf flying the S-3B Viking,” logging “greater than 2000 flight hours and 475 service landings.”

Barry’s on-line profile boasted 37 years in authorities relations for AT&T and MCI.

Selcke was a telecom lobbyist in Springfield for many years, information present.

Dan Mihalopoulos is an investigative reporter on WBEZ’s Authorities & Politics Workforce. Jon Seidel is the Solar-Instances’ federal courts reporter.