By John Dempsey, WLS News
(CHICAGO) A former City of Chicago Department of Transportation official goes on trial today in Chicago Federal Court, charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to steer the city’s red light camera contract to the Phoenix based Redflex company.
John Bills is charged with 20 counts of mail and wire fraud, bribery, extortion, income tax evasion, and conspiracy. Bills is a longtime political operative and precinct worker for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who has not been charged with wrongdoing.
Former Redflex executive Karen Finley and former Bills friend Martin O’Malley have pleaded guilty to charges related to their roles in the scheme, and will testify for the government.
After the Chicago Tribune broke the story about the Redflex scandal, Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired the company and removed 80 of the red light cameras at city intersections.
U..S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, who helped send former Governor George Ryan to prison, will personally try the case for the government.
@ WLS News 2016
