Chicago U.S. Attorney John Lausch to leave Justice Department

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file photo

Chicago U.S. Attorney John Lausch plans to leave the Justice Department “in early 2023” for the private sector, Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters Thursday.

Lausch has overseen major public corruption investigations in his five years in office. They culminated with criminal charges against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan — and ultimately re-shaped Chicago politics.

“We’ll provide an update in the coming days,” Joseph Fitzpatrick, Lausch’s spokesman, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We expect John will be moving on by the end of February or early March.”

Lausch will be leaving as some of the most significant of those public corruption cases head to trial. He appears on track to leave office before the March 6 trial of four individuals accused of trying to bribe Madigan.

His tenure will mostly be remembered for the aggressive probes of Illinois politics that went public under his watch, which targeted old-school Chicago-style graft.

But Lausch also spent the bulk of his term navigating a perilous position as the Justice Department’s man in Chicago during the Republican Trump administration that enjoyed little popularity here — a tricky balancing act in an intensely partisan era.

Lausch’s success was likely due in part to his Joliet roots and the relationships he built in his past work as a federal prosecutor. Key among his former colleagues was Lori Lightfoot, who became mayor of Chicago while Lausch was in office but now faces a tough re-election fight.

Lausch has also enjoyed the support of U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Democrats who, in a 2021 letter to newly inaugurated President Joe Biden, succesfully called on him to keep Lausch in place. 

They said there is precedent for a U.S. attorney to remain “to conclude sensitive investigations.” They did not get more specific. But the news of Lausch’s departure comes three months after the filing of a superseding indictment that expanded the Madigan case.

The Lausch era also leaves Ald. Edward M. Burke under indictment for racketeering, accused of using the City of Chicago as a criminal “enterprise” in a document that added phrases to the local lexicon like, “did we land … the tuna?” Former Ald. Danny Solis was also exposed as a federal cooperator who turned on Burke after being confronted with his own alleged corruption.

Madigan left office in 2021 amid the feds’ investigation, and Burke has chosen not to seek re-election while facing trial. They were two of Chicago’s most significant politicians, whose careers were seemingly ended by the work of Lausch’s office.

ComEd was charged with bribery, and four members of then-House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle are under indictment for the same charge, accused of spending years trying to reward Madigan for official actions with jobs for associates and allies. 

The Lausch era also led to criminal charges against several other public officials, including state Sens. Thomas Cullerton, Terry Link, Martin Sandoval and Emil Jones III, as well as state Reps. Luis Arroyo and Eddie Acevedo. Sandoval died in December 2020.

Chicago Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson went to trial last February, leading to his conviction for cheating on his taxes and lying to regulators, which cost him his seat on the City Council.

Ald. Carrie Austin is also under indictment and facing trial.

A bevy of politicians and politically connected individuals have also agreed in writing to “fully and truthfully cooperate in any matter” in which they are called upon by the feds in the future.

Records show the investigations that swirled around Burke, Madigan and ComEd did not begin under Lausch, with some key evidence being gathered before Lausch took office. For example, Solis began cooperating with the feds in 2016. Zachary Fardon, nominated by President Barack Obama, was Chicago’s U.S. Attorney at the time. Fardon was removed at the beginning of the Trump era.

Lausch’s background battling street violence pushed him to the top of the list when it came time to pick Fardon’s successor. Then a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, Lausch had previously worked in the U.S. Attorney’s office, serving as the violent crime coordinator and leading the Anti-Gang and Project Safe Neighborhoods programs. In his earliest comments to reporters, Lausch listed gun violence as a priority for his office, along with public corruption.

But during his more than three years as Chicago’s top federal prosecutor, Lausch mostly let the indictments do the talking. He rarely spoke in court. He made one rare personal plea to U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, though, asking the judge to reject a request for a sentencing break from Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover. Lausch told the judge it would be a “miscarraige of justice to reduce [Hoover’s] sentence in any way, shape or form.” 

The judge initially turned Hoover down, but Hoover has renewed his request. 

Under Lausch, federal prosecutors in Chicago also indicted and secured a conviction against R&B singer R. Kelly, who faces sentencing next month before Leinenweber.

Fate also put Lausch in charge of the U.S. Attorney’s office during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to an unprecedented shutdown of Chicago’s federal court. Shortly after it began, prosecutors acknowledged trouble convening grand juries. They ultimately churned out several charges against politically connected individuals in 2020, as well as against ComEd.

The day ComEd was charged, Lausch held a press conference outside the Dirksen Federal Courthouse with officials from the FBI and IRS. Also joining him were the prosecutors assigned to handle the case in the courtroom.

Lausch acknowledged that day that, in his few public comments, he had previously characterized public corruption as a “very stubborn problem.” 

“It continues to be a stubborn problem,” Lausch said that day. “But I feel very confident with the people that are working here … that we’re going to do whatever we can to try and whack away at that stubborn problem.”