By: Mark Glennon*
As first reported Friday by the Daily Mail, a federal criminal investigation is now underway over the Jenny Thornley matter that Wirepoints covered in detail in 2022 and 2023. The case revolves around Pritzker’s alleged links to his wife’s friend, Jenny Thornley, who volunteered on his first gubernatorial campaign in 2018 and was convicted of forgery in 2023, as the Daily Mail put it.
“We are investigating this,” a top official at the DOJ told the Daily Mail. “People have been so brazen for so long because they thought no one would ever look at them and they were above the law.”
My view is still what I wrote here earlier:
Strong, credible evidence is uncontested of workers’ compensation fraud in which Gov. JB Pritzker’s office, his wife and perhaps he, personally, participated. No exculpatory evidence has been produced. Pritzker’s promise of “accountability” remains unfulfilled. Attorney General Kwame Raoul quashed a whistleblower complaint and gave false excuses for doing nothing.
The facts of the controversy are lengthy, but a good summary of the allegations made are in a brief filed in 2022 by the director of the Illinois State Police Merit Board asking an appellate court to override Raoul’s earlier success quashing her whistleblower complaint. The brief is scorching and includes background facts for those who haven’t followed the story:
This case concerns whether the Attorney General can arbitrarily or – even worse – based on political conflicts of interest, require a court to dismiss a case under the Illinois False Claims Act notwithstanding undisputed allegations and facts demonstrating that the people of the State have been defrauded.
[Whistleblower Emily Fox] provided both the Office of the Executive Inspector General (the “OEIG”) and the Attorney General evidence documenting how Thornley, a former political operative of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and a personal friend of the Governor’s wife, M.K. Pritzker, committed her scheme. This included evidence that high-ranking members of the Governor’s administration participated to facilitate the fraud, including Ann Spillane, the Governor’s General Counsel. Thornley texted with M.K. Pritzker seeking the Governor’s help. Thornley, who never worked in the Governor’s office, listed the Governor as her personal supervisor and provided his personal phone number in support of her fraudulent worker’s compensation claim. And Spillane became personally involved, accepting the facially false and fraudulent claim directly and then assuring through intervention with Central Management Services (“CMS”) that the claim was paid….
What was surprising was that, after Ms. Fox filed her case, the Attorney General sought to suppress it by seeking the case’s dismissal. In his motion to dismiss, the Attorney General did not dispute the facts of the fraud. And he offered no rationale for seeking dismissal. Instead, he argued that he has unfettered discretion to require dismissal of an IFCA case – with or without reason.
The consequence of Thornley’s fraudulent worker’s compensation claim was payment to her of more than $70,000 from the State. After this case was filed, Thornley finally stopped receiving benefits. However, the State never filed a claim to claw back any of the more than $70,000 in benefits that Spillane had secured for Thornley based on Thornley’s facially fraudulent claim….
“Frankly,” the brief says, “the Attorney General decision fails even a test requiring a shock to the conscience….”
Raoul’s role deserves special attention. Aside from quashing the whistleblower complaint, he answered falsely on one of the few times he was asked about the case.
He and Pritzker literally laughed at a question in 2022 about Raoul’s handling of the case and Raoul claimed that he had referred prosecution of the matter out to the Illinois Office of the Appellate Prosecutor to handle. But, as we had reported earlier, that office said they had heard nothing about it. The regular Illinois media never followed up on the apparently false answer they got.
Pritzker’s campaign gave Raoul’s reelection effort $1 million in 2022 and $3 million to his initial election in 2018.
Salute to Josh Boswell at the Daily Mail for his diligence on his story. He contacted us in October on a different Pritzker matter but I suggested he look into the Thornley matter instead and sent him our articles on it.
Much further background and detail is in our earlier articles on the matter, linked below.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
Earlier Wirepoints columns on the Thornley matter:
- Judgement against Thornley but still no action on alleged involvement of Pritzker’s office in fraudulent worker’s comp claim
- A.G. Kwame Raoul fights appeal of whistleblower lawsuit and further developments in Jenny Thornley matterPlaintiffs Step Up Fight For Cases To Be Heard in Jenny
- Thornley Scandal But Attorney General Kwame Raoul Still Covering It Up
- Pritzker’s response to the Jenny Thornley matter is either dishonest, derelict or both
- Pritzker said there should be accountability for worker’s comp fraud. Where is that for Jenny Thornley and Pritzker’s staff?
- Deeper into the hole he dug goes Attorney General Kwame Raoul on the Jenny Thornley matter
- Questions Mount Over Pritzker Administration’s Involvement In Thornley’s Alleged Fraud
- Answers needed as Illinois’ Jenny Thornley affair continues
Audio and summary 
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Great work again by Wirepoints on this story– not just currently but also back to 2022 and 23. And it is about time responsible law enforcement looks in to JB. Remember “Toilet Gate.” Case dropped by Biden and Obama DOJ. And how about the phony story about gambling winnings in Vegas. Gaming industry insiders say it is virtually impossible that JB won $1.4 million in the manner in which he claims he did.
Unfortunately this is going to go nowhere, just like the first so called investigation.
oy vey
Perhaps the convicted felon, prison time serving, appointed Cook County judge should oversee this case as he is very familiar with the justice system from both sides.
Cook County Judge Ralph E. Meczyk, the judge who issued a September order allowing CTA “burn bitch” attacker Lawrence Reed, previously arrested 49 times, to leave his home, is himself a convicted felon who served federal prison time in the 1980s.
Oh not to worry some judge will step in to shut the investigation down the dem’s never get in trouble ???
Thanks Mark. Unfortunately, it’s Just another day at the office for Illinois Government.
If not for federal investigation intervention, former Speaker Mike Madigan would have continued to ignore any suggestions that he had broken any laws. Madigan had bought and paid for county and state Supreme Court judges – as well as having his own daughter serve as Attorney General while he was Speaker. The fact that the Illinois media did not follow up and was intimidated by the powers that be from informing the public as the “Fourth Estate” about these charges places them sadly accountable for allowing JB Pritzker to avoid the same that anyone else in Illinois NOT “Pritzker-ized” would… Read more »
was left shaking my head when this got brushed under the rug…
the potential of seeing the rug pulled from under them makes me happy.
Thank you for this article, Mark. How sweet it would be if Pritzker were brought to justice!
A lot of brazen things went on and it all comes back to one thing. No leftist pos ever thought Trump or other conservative would make it back in office before the statute of limitations on their behavior had run it’s course.
Why don’t they investigate Tubby’s ripping out of his toilets in his mansion, to get lower taxes while they are at it. Oh and knowingly importing hundreds of thousands of illegals for $2.7 billion of taxpayer dollars then raising our taxes to fund it all. That’s fraud upon the US citizens and taxpayers of Illinois. Not to mention aiding and abetting illegal immigration. Which is a Federal crime.
I think that Pritzker paid the tax he owed plus a penalty for Toiletgate.
To JB the Hutt, MK the Hutt, Thornley, Raoul and Spillane
You get an orange jumpsuit, you get an orange jump suit, you get an orange jump suit, you get an orange jump suit
Someone here will provide state’s evidence in exchange for a reduced sentence or probation. Can Pritzker block his wife’s testimony? Might be a good way to her to avoid a pre-nup and trade-in Jumbo for a younger flatbelly.
Thank you and all others involved in pursuing this matter. It would otherwise never see the light of day, which is of course what all involved expected. The governor, having never made anything on his own, has no reverence for the efforts required. Hence he has no regard for money, since what is regarded as his own was the product of others. How, exactly, would we expect that man would see money paid in by the taxpayers of Illinois and distributions from the federal government?
The claim is that Ms. Bondi (AG) is President Trumps personal lawyer, doing his bidding. Oh, how the table has turned. Mr. Raoul (AG) received 4 million dollars in campaign donations from Governor Pritzker. Both of them laugh off the claim of this story. In my mind I don’t’ know how they can live with themself. I pray at some point the real truth comes to light.
More transparency from Lucky and America’s Worst AG. Go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect 70K or 1.4M!
Thank you for your bravery and diligence in documenting this case.