The next public corruption case set for trial at Chicago’s federal courthouse seemed headed down a rocky road Thursday after a disastrous hours-long hearing in which the judge silenced a lawyer and threatened to hold him in contempt — all while an appellate court warned of sanctions.
U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger noted it was the first hearing in which he had come “nose-to-nose” with James T. Weiss, a businessman under indictment since October 2020 for allegedly bribing onetime state Rep. Luis Arroyo. Weiss, who attended the hearing, is a son-in-law of former Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios.
