Deal may mean bribery charges get dropped
Former red-light camera exec wore FBI wire as part of corruption probe
A former executive for a redlight camera company who wore a wire for the FBI as part of a sprawling public corruption investigation could see bribery conspiracy charges against him dismissed in a deal cut with federal prosecutors, attorneys revealed in court Friday.
Omar Maani, who was coowner of clout-heavy SafeSpeed LLC, was charged in a one-count information on Monday alleging he conspired with longtime political operative Patrick Doherty and another sales agent for the company to pay $4,000 in bribes in exchange for the official support of an Oak Lawn trustee to add red light cameras at additional intersections.
At Maani’s first court appearance Friday before U.S. District Judge Robert Blakey, prosecutors revealed Maani has entered what’s known as a deferred prosecution agreement due to his extensive cooperation in the case.
The deal would place him under court supervision for two years, and if he continues to assist the government and stay out of trouble, the case against him ultimately would be dismissed.
In addition to the Oak Lawn scheme, Maani admitted in his agreement with the government that he’d provided other benefits — including campaign contributions, meals, money and sporting-event tickets — to other public officials in exchange for official actions favorable to SafeSpeed and another company in which he had a financial interest.
The charges unveiled last week marked the first official identification of Maani, a Burr Ridge businessman who was one of SafeSpeed’s founders and biggest rainmakers, as the FBI’s cooperating source, though the Tribune and other media outlets previously had identified him.
Maani’s cooperation with federal authorities already has led to charges against a number of Democratic politicians and power players, including Doherty, Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta, and then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval.
The deferred prosecution agreement is at least the third such deal negotiated by U.S. Attorney John Lausch’s office in separate public corruption investigations.
Last month, prosecutors filed a deferred prosecution against ComEd in a massive bribery case alleging the company paid a cadre of lobbyists and consultants to curry favor with House Speaker Michael Madigan.
It also was recently revealed in court filings that prosecutors in 2019 entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with former 25th Ward Ald. Daniel Solis, whose cooperation with federal investigators led to racketeering charges against longtime 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke.
Maani’s agreement with prosecutors offered new details the scheme with Doherty and another SafeSpeed sales representative, identified only as Individual B, to renew the company’s camera contract in Oak Lawn and increase the number of intersections the deal covered.
They also allegedly hoped the trustee would support a measure to have the suburb “use morelenient standards in approving proposed traffic violations” submitted by SafeSpeed, since they got a cut of every dollar the company took in from approved violations.
In a recorded phone call on May 23, 2017, Doherty told Maani that the Oak Lawn trustee was “looking for a job for his kid,” to which Maani asked whether he would want to be a violations reviewer for SafeSpeed, according to the agreement.
“I don’t know,” Doherty allegedly replied. “I think he’s looking to make as much money as he can because he’s going to college. … I pay him out of my LLC. Something like that. I don’t know. Something for him to do.”
In another call two days later, Doherty again brought up the idea of paying the trustee’s son, saying he was willing put in “a couple grand” of his own money if it guaranteed them getting the other red light camera locations, according to Maani’s agreement.
“Honestly, let me think about it,” Maani replied. “I’ll come up with something. I’ll think of something.”
Eventually, it was decided that payments were going to be doled out to the relative in $500 installments over a period of eight weeks, according to the indictment filed against Doherty earlier this year. To hide the purpose of the bribes, the money would come from a company where Doherty was a manager, the indictment stated.
“I’ll just pay it,” Doherty allegedly said on one call with Individual B. “Just make sure we get the, make sure we get the f——— thing, the contract.”
In early June 2017, Maani paid for a ticket for the trustee “to come to an event at a cigar lounge” because Maani wanted to gain the trustee’s favor, according to his agreement. The agreement does not name the lounge, but other court records show Maani was associated with the Casa De Montecristo in west suburban Countryside.
About a week after that cigar lounge event, the FBI recorded Doherty telling the trustee’s son, “It’s not like I need ya,” but that he’d pay the money anyway, according to the indictment against Doherty.
Doherty then cut the relative a $500 check for the first installment, the indictment alleged. The charges do not state whether the rest of the money was ever paid.
Maani’s name first surfaced in the ongoing federal investigation last fall when the FBI executed search warrants on Sandoval’s office as well as village buildings in Lyons and McCook. Records showed agents seized evidence on Maani and his development firm, Presidio Capital, which has built government-subsidized housing in nearby Summit and Cicero.
Sandoval was charged last year and pleaded guilty in late January to bribery and tax charges. He admitted to taking at least $70,000 in government-supplied cash from Maani in return for acting as SafeSpeed’s “protector” in the state Senate.
Sandoval also admitted in the plea agreement that he first agreed in 2016 to receive $20,000 in annual campaign contributions from SafeSpeed in exchange for his official support in Springfield. Campaign finance records show that in September 2016, Sandoval’s campaign fund got a $10,000 donation from Triad Consulting Services, a firm run by SafeSpeed CEO Nikki Zollar, followed three weeks later by a $10,000 donation made by SafeSpeed itself.
Zollar and SafeSpeed have denied any wrongdoing, saying the $20,000 in donations were legal campaign contributions. They also said Doherty and Maani were acting without the company’s knowledge.
Doherty, 64, also served as chief of staff to former Cook County Commissioner and ex-McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski, who pleaded guilty this week to extortion and filing a false tax return in a separate scheme to shake down a restaurant owner who needed permission to serve liquor at events.
Tobolski is also cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of a more lenient sentence.
Presta, meanwhile, is charged with taking bribes from Maani in exchange for his support for SafeSpeed cameras at several intersections in Crestwood. Presta has pleaded not guilty.
In addition to the Oak Lawn scheme, Maani admitted in his agreement with the government that he’d provided other benefits — including campaign contributions, meals, money and sporting-event tickets — to other public officials in exchange for official actions favorable to SafeSpeed and another company in which he had a financial interest.