Ex-state Sen. Terry Link avoids jail time after helping feds uncover bribery scheme
Former state Sen. Terry Link was sentenced to three years probation Wednesday for dodging $82,000 in taxes, escaping jail time after he cooperated for years with the FBI and helped prosecutors convict others for a bribery scheme.
“I admit I made a mistake,” Link told the judge before sentencing. “I didn't go in there with the intent of cheating the government out of anything. … I accept the responsibility of what happened. I accept that this happened and I have to pay the consequences.”
Link hoped for years that he’d catch a break by helping the feds. He let the FBI monitor his emails and record his phone calls, and he ultimately wore a wire in 2019 while meeting with a fellow lawmaker, then-state Rep. Luis Arroyo.
The feds agreed that the Vernon Hills Democrat deserved probation despite his tax crimes, asking U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland for the light sentence in a memo last week.
A longtime power broker in Lake County politics, Link served 23 years in the Illinois Senate before he resigned in 2020 after being charged with tax evasion and being tied to a corruption scandal. He also served 28 years as chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party.
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