Former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, who was convicted in a federal bribery case, has requested his sentence be commuted. If his petition is granted, that would allow him to be released from prison sooner.
Once considered Chicago's most powerful alderman, Burke was found guilty of 13 federal counts in December 2023 and did not appeal his two-year sentence. In September 2024, Burke began serving the prison sentence at a federal minimum security camp in Thomson, Illinois.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney, Burke has filed an application for a commutation of his sentence. A clemency case has been opened, and the petition is under review, according to the department's website. The petition was filed in 2025, but it is unclear what date.
That application is now up for President Donald Trump's administration to grant or deny. It can take months, even years, before a sentence commutation is granted or denied. The application goes through several levels before it reaches the president’s desk.
Currently, the office has 3,978 pending commutation applications and 1,033 pending pardon cases, for a total of 5,011 pending cases.
“There is no question it is a new day in Washington and personal favor, personal attachments to the president -- having done things that he wanted, he liked —that’s what’s going to get you ahead in this administration," said former federal prosecutor Ron Safer, who is not involved in Burke's case.
Nearly 10 years ago, Burke had a working relationship with then-businessman Trump as he saved Trump and investors up to $14 million in property taxes on Chicago’s Trump Tower, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Later, Burke stopped doing tax work for Trump, citing "irreconcilable differences."
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NBC 5 Chicago reached out to Burke's attorney, Joe Duffy, but he’s out of the office and unable to respond to questions.
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