Ex-red-light camera company exec takes stand in bribery trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III: Part 1

SafeSpeed LLC co-founder Omar Maani testified for the first time in a federal courtroom Wednesday, April 9, 2025 that his company routinely sought to influence elected officials with campaign cash, dinners and cigars to secure more business.

“We would cut deals with legislators for financial support,” said Maani, who admitted to his own wrongdoing after being confronted in January 2018 and was given a deferred prosecution agreement in exchange for his cooperation. “We would write checks for them from different companies to conceal it from the public….We were concerned the media would write there was some sort of collusion.”

A conversation with Democratic State Sen. Emil Jones III , which Maani secretly recorded for the FBI, was the focal point of a long first day of trial for Jones, the son of former Senate President Emil Jones Jr. Jones III is accused of agreeing to accept bribes from Maani in exchange for his help tamping down anti-red-light camera legislation in Springfield.

This video is part one of the conversation. See part two here: trib.al/EvVujiN

Read the full story here: trib.al/YowoQzg

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