As Trial Begins, Politically Connected Businessman Claims Feds Set Him Up to Bribe Legislator

The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois file photo)

By HANNAH MEISEL
Capitol News Illinois
hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com

Nearly four years after his name first surfaced in connection with a bribe arrangement between two sitting lawmakers, politically connected businessman James Weiss is finally having his day in court.

Weiss, who is married to former state Rep. Toni Berrios, D-Chicago – the daughter of longtime former Cook County Democratic Party boss Joseph Berrios – stands accused of bribing two Democratic lawmakers in an effort to shield his fledgling business from threatened bans at the state and local levels.

Weiss was in the business of sweepstakes machines – devices that look similar to video gaming terminals that have proliferated in bars, gas stations and standalone gaming cafes in Illinois since their legalization a decade ago. But, unlike video gaming terminals, sweepstakes machines are wholly unregulated and are operating in a legal gray area.

In the government’s opening statements on Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine O’Neill laid out Weiss’ alleged crimes to the jury.

“In 2019, ladies and gentlemen, the defendant had two sitting politicians on his company payroll,” O’Neill said of Weiss’ business, Collage LLC. “It was all to benefit his business, Collage, the sweepstakes machines and his own bottom line.”

Weiss’ attorney, Sheldon Sorosky, used his opening statements to characterize Weiss as a shrewd businessman who seized the opportunity to contract with and curry favor with influential lawmakers who could help him in Chicago and Springfield.

“So yes, Jim Weiss had a business motive to promote sweepstakes to help himself,” he told the jury. “That’s not a crime.”

The trial, which is expected to last about a week, will feature long-anticipated testimony from one of the two ex-legislators Weiss is alleged to have bribed: former state Sen. Terry Link, D-Vernon Hills. Link happened to be cooperating with the government and wearing a wire when then-state Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago, offered him a bribe in an attempt to further the cause of legalizing sweepstakes machines. Arroyo pleaded guilty to the bribery charges in 2021.

Other government witnesses will include a current high-ranking member of the Illinois House, a former influential member of the Illinois Senate and a longtime powerful Chicago alderman.