Democratic Senator Resigns After FBI Agents Raid His Home Amid Corruption Probe

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An Illinois Democratic senator resigned on Wednesday after FBI agents raided his Chicago home earlier this year, pending an investigation for fraud and bribery.

State Sen. Martin Sandoval said his resignation would be effective Jan. 1, according to his letter to the Secretary of the Senate.

"It is with a heavy heart, I, Martin A. Sandoval, do hereby resign the office of state senator," he wrote.

In September, FBI agents raided Sandoval's offices to find information on concrete and construction businesses as well as data related to bribery or theft of federal funds.

The officials were also looking for information on a power company, lobbyists, gambling interests, a red-light camera company, and at least three suburban mayors.

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Additionally, agents were also dispatched to his Cicero office.

According to Fox News: The raid was also followed by federal law enforcement actions in the towns of McCook, Lyons, and Summit -- all of which are part of Sandoval's district, according to reports from The Journal Gazzett & Times-Courier and The Chicago Tribune.

The move comes after two months of pressure by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other state leaders who demanded Sandoval step down as chairman of the Transportation Committee.

Pritzker expressed concern about the state's $41.5 billion construction program, in which Sandoval had a leading role last spring.

Local news outlets previously reported federal agents also went to Bluff City Materials, a Bartlett sand and gravel operation owned by a major Sandoval donor and that his connections to Commonwealth Edison, where his daughter, Angie, has worked as a senior representative for years.

Democrat Martin Sandoval announced his resignation from the Senate Wednesday, two months after his office and home were raided by the feds. https://t.co/E0X1V6GYIQ

— Kenneth Mallory❌ (@kennethmallor16) November 28, 2019

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Sandoval has represented the 11th District since 2003.

In his resignation letter, Sandoval said he continues to have respect for his constituents and that Illinois senators convinced him that his resignation was necessary for the party to move forward.

The news comes weeks after former Baltimore mayor, Catherine Pugh, who resigned earlier this year amid a book deal scandal, was federally charged with 11 counts of fraud, tax evasion, and wire fraud.

Pugh, a Democrat, was indicted by a grand jury on the conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, seven counts of wire fraud, and two counts of tax evasion, according to a newly unsealed indictment.

The charges come in the most recent development in a scandal over a no-bid book deal that led to the former mayor's resignation in May this year.

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