Illinois state Rep. Luis Arroyo resigned November 1 from the House of Representatives following the release of a 12-page federal complaint that he bribed a legislative colleague with an offer of $2,500 a month if he’d support Arroyo’s sweepstakes legislation.
Arroyo handed over the first payment on August 22 at a suburban Chicago restaurant, not knowing his colleague was wearing a wire. “I’m going to give you this here. This is, this is, this is the jackpot.” At an earlier meeting, Arroyo asked the senator if he wanted the $2,500 checks each month for six months or each month for a year. The senator responded, “A year sounds great.” The Sun-Times said the senator was Terry Link but Link denies it.
Arroyo was arrested October 28, charged with attempting to bribe an
unnamed state senator to introduce legislation to legalize sweepstakes machines. Arroyo, who has represented the 3rd District on the West Side since 2006, appeared in Chicago federal court November 4 on one count of federal program bribery. If convicted, Arroyo faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. He was released on a personal recognizance bond,
The complaint said Arroyo is the manager of the lobbying firm Spartacus 3 LLC. Its clients included the owner of video sweepstakes machine firm. According to legislative records, Arroyo did not introduce any sweepstakes measures and there was little support when it was inserted into an expanded gambling measure 18 months ago.
The complaint refers to the senator only as a cooperating witness. It said the senator agreed to wear a wire in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence for filing false income tax returns.
At an early meeting, after listening to Arroyo explain the legislation, the senator asked, “What’s in it for me? I’m looking for something, you know? I’m in the twilight, you know.” Arroyo assured his colleague he could be trusted to say nothing about their arrangement.
“My word is my bond and my reputation,” Arroyo said, according to the complaint.
Puerto Rican-born Arroyo is chairman of a House appropriations committee and on the public utilities and transportation committees. He was elected the general assembly’s assistant majority leader in 2017.
