About Jon Seidel
Jon Seidel covers federal courts for the Chicago Sun-Times and has written about many of Chicago's most notorious crimes, trials and investigations. He is the author of the book Second City Sinners.
Seidel broke key stories at the Sun-Times about the investigation that led to the indictment of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. He wrote about the prosecution of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the successful clemency bid of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Seidel also covered the 2022 trial of R. Kelly, the 2018 trial of former Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, the 2012 and 2016 trials of former Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson, and the 2012 trial of Christopher Vaughn.
Seidel was born in Pennsylvania but has spent the majority of his life in the Midwest and graduated from Ball State University in 2004. He covered politics in northwest Indiana and criminal courts in Will County, Illinois, before he joined the staff of the Sun-Times in 2012. He began covering the federal courts in 2015.
