Former Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan’s attorneys have attacked prosecutors’ “draconian” recommendation that he serve 12½ years in prison in the ComEd scandal, likening the proposed term to a life sentence for an old man who is “not the villain of their constructed narrative.”

“The government seeks to condemn an 83-year-old man to die behind bars for crimes that enriched him not one penny,” Madigan’s attorneys told U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey in a 28-page response filed late Friday.

In a filing of their own minutes later, however, prosecutors revealed for the first time that Madigan “amassed a personal fortune of more than $40 million” during his years in Springfield, built in large part through his successful law practice appealing property taxes for deep pocketed d

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