Federal agents raided the home of a former top political aide to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and the brother of 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation said.
The raid took place last month at the home of Kevin Quinn, located in the 10300 block of South California Avenue in the city’s Beverly neighborhood, sources said.
Neither the FBI nor Kevin Quinn responded to multiple requests for comment. It was not immediately clear what agents sought in executing search warrants, though a source said computers were taken from the home.
No charges were filed against Kevin Quinn, who also could not be reached for comment. It was also unclear whether or not the raid was related to his work for the powerful House speaker, who also heads the state’s Democratic Party.
Kevin Quinn was a top political operative for Madigan for nearly 20 years until February 2018, when consultant Alaina Hampton, who had also previously worked for Madigan, accused him of sexual harassment.
Hampton later filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the powerful lawmaker's political committee and the Democratic Party of Illinois ignored her complaints of inappropriate conduct and retaliated against her for bringing them forward.
Kevin Quinn is also the brother of 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, who won re-election in February in a campaign that drew scrutiny and sparked an investigation.
Ald. Marty Quinn attempted to get his opponent David Krupa kicked off the ballot by submitting affidavits from nearly 2,800 voters saying they didn’t mean to sign Krupa’s petitions. But Krupa’s attorney said the DePaul University freshman had only submitted around 1,700 petition signatures, and that only 187 of Ald. Marty Quinn’s affidavits matched signatures on his petitions.
The Cook County state's attorney's office confirmed in December that it had contacted the Cook County Board of Elections about allegations of fraud in the race, and at the same time, Krupa - who has also filed a federal lawsuit - said someone identifying themselves as a federal agent called him to say that Ald. Marty Quinn was being investigated. A phone call to that person's number was not returned and the FBI would not comment.
It was not immediately clear if the mid-May raid on Kevin Quinn’s home was related to Krupa’s allegation, and neither Ald. Marty Quinn nor Madigan responded to request for comment. The raid on Kevin Quinn’s home came amid an apparent series of federal probes into several members of Chicago City Council.
Ald. Ed Burke was indicted last month on multiple charges of corruption, with authorities alleging he had used his position to steer business to his private law firm specializing in property tax appeals.
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The indictment of Burke came after former Ald. Danny Solis, who sources said was himself the subject of a federal criminal investigation in 2014, secretly recorded a number of conversations with Burke using an electronic listening device.
And just last week, federal agents also executed a search warrant at the ward office of Ald. Carrie Austin, reportedly related to the zoning of the area surrounding her Far South Side home.
