The recent courtroom drama unfolding around Illinois Sen. Emil Jones III spotlights a series of late-night text exchanges with a much younger former intern, along with allegations of bribery swirling around the senator's effort to land the intern a job. On a late evening in 2019, the senator, then 41, texted his 23-year-old ex-intern with a simple, "I want to hang out with u," reported the Chicago Sun-Times. The exchanges, revealed in the federal trial against Sen. Jones, raise questions not only about professional boundaries but also about potentially deeper legal transgressions.
According to testimony and evidence presented in court, the former intern, identified as Christopher Katz, was conversing with Jones about his plans for the night, which included the possibility of going to "club sky11," known as a gentleman's club. The NBC Chicago coverage revealed Katz's request for Jones to send him $20 to cover the entry fee, a detail that positions their relationship in a questionable light.
This back-and-forth culminated with Katz urging the senator to "come to the club," despite the unusual nature of such an invitation between a former intern and their erstwhile employer. The senator's subsequent attempts to assist Katz in securing employment became a focal point of the trial, as federal prosecutors assert that Jones promised to protect red-light camera executive Omar Maani's interests in the Senate in return for $5,000 and finding Katz a job.
Emil Jones III, a South Side Democrat with a tenure starting in 2009, stood accused of pushing for legislation that would benefit Maani's trade, a claim supported by the evidence of their dinner conversations at the upscale Chicago steakhouse Steak 48. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, during one of these dinners, Jones emphasized his priority of "take care of my intern — that’s it." To which Maani agreed, tentatively offering his assistance to Katz in their discussed arrangement.
The charges laid against Jones surfaced in September 2022, a move typically indicative of a plea of guilt by the defendant, thus potentially keeping the revelations about Jones' relationship with Katz from the public record. Katz, while on the stand, confirmed he received $1,800 from Maani yet did not perform any work. "Did Mr. Maani end up giving you a job?" the prosecutor asked. "I did," Katz testified, confirming the job but clarifying the absence of any labor performed on his part, raising further questions about the nature of the funds received.
