Status Hearing Set Nov. 8 for ex-AT&T Executive on Bribery Charges

A status hearing was set for Nov. 8 in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois for an AT&T executive accused of unlawfully influencing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) to get legislation passed that was favorable to the company, according to filings in docket 1:22-cr-00520. A $10,000 appearance bond for Paul La Schiazza, a former president of AT&T Illinois, was set Thursday. La Schiazza was indicted earlier this month on charges he arranged to pay Madigan’s associate Michael McClain to ease the passage of carrier of last resort legislation that would make it easier for AT&T to terminate its obligation to provide landline telephone services to all Illinois residents. The legislation became law in 2017, and saved AT&T millions of dollars, according to the indictment. AT&T Illinois reached an agreement with DOJ earlier this month to pay $23 million (see 2210140069) in connection with the incident.