Exelon Unit Admits Bribery as Probe Entangles Illinois Speaker

Exelon Corp.’s Commonwealth Edison unit is admitting to bribery in a deal that ends a federal lobbying investigation, prompting the governor of Illinois to say the speaker of the state’s House of Representatives may have to step down.

Commonwealth Edison, the biggest electric utility in Illinois, agreed to pay $200 million to resolve the probe by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, according to a statement Friday.

From 2011 to 2019, employees of Commonwealth Edison unit arranged jobs, vendor subcontracts and monetary payments for the benefit of “Public Official A” in an effort to influence ...