Madigan Family Benefits From Payday Loan Bill

By aaroncynic in News on Aug 30, 2010 6:30PM

In the spring, payday loan reform passed the Illinois legislature, capping high interest rates for consumers and expanding a tracking system to keep tabs on lenders. While the measures certainly benefited borrowers of high interest loans, the Sun Times reports that the Madigan family benefited from the loan as well.

Lobbyist Jordan Matyas, son-in-law to House Speaker Michael Madigan helped write the legislation. That legislation benefits a client of his, Veritec Solutions. The company tracks unsecured consumer loans and has billed lenders more than $800,000. Once the new law takes effect on March 21st, business is expected to boom for Veritec.

Both Michael and Lisa Madigan maintain they didn’t know about Matayas’ connections with Veritec. A spokesperson for Michael Madigan pointed out that Matayas wasn’t married to daughter Tiffany Madigan at the time. However, Christine Radongo (R-Lemont), Illinois Senate Minority leader still smells something fishy. She told the Sun Times “It's bad enough with the attorney general and the speaker, and now you have the brother-in-law/son-in-law? It makes it all 10 times worse because you have more of the Madigan family directing business in the state of Illinois."