CHICAGO — Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-López’s former wife claimed he spent “incredible” amounts of their money on prostitutes and pornography, according to divorce records that were recently unsealed ahead of his reelection campaign launch.

Sigcho-López denied his ex-wife’s allegations Friday. And he alleged the Coalition Opposing Governmental Secrecy that successfully petitioned a DuPage County judge to have the 2012 divorce records unsealed last month is part of the “pro-Israel lobby” that he has “vocally criticized for dumping big money into politics.”

“Imagine if they spent that energy fighting for the release of the Epstein files and going after the pedophiles who infiltrate our government,” Sigcho-López wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately for them, my records contain unsubstantiated claims, none of which allege anything criminal or illegal, made during divorce proceedings. It was a marriage that didn’t work out, and we have our own families and children now, and there’s no need for them to read untrue claims made during difficult times.”

Asked to respond to Sigcho-López’s claim that he was being attacked for his stance on Israel, the group’s attorney, Edward Weinhaus, said, “The (Coalition Opposing Governmental Secrecy) is a transparency project that’s used for public records … and transparency has no political party.”

The alderman announced this week that he will seek a third City Council term representing the Southwest Side 25th Ward, after failing to get on the ballot for November’s congressional race as an independent candidate. But for months, the firebrand progressive has been fighting the nonprofit’s effort to obtain records from his 2012 divorce that had been sealed at his request.

Last month, the Coalition Opposing Governmental Secrecy prevailed when a DuPage County judge ruled the records were a matter of public interest.

In the newly unsealed court files, Sigcho-López’s then-wife Patricia Sigcho claimed he burned through their marital funds because of a sex addiction, paying for prostitutes, hotel rooms and dinners “that were not with his Wife and were not for the benefit of the family.” She said he solicited escort services online and also incurred high roaming charges and other phone bills from an “addiction to pornography,” according to her divorce petition.

“Respondent has selfishly expended marital funds after the time of marital breakdown,” she wrote, and also alleged Sigcho-López withdrew the money from their joint account and refused to provide any accounting for the spending.

The judge later found that Sigcho had “proven the material allegations of her petition,” and the two divorced that April. But after that, Sigcho-López motioned to impound the documents, arguing they were exaggerated or false and would harm his career aspirations as a teacher’s assistant at the University of Illinois.

That prompted his ex-wife to file a response in June 2012, saying the records were already in public view and alleging he “has communicated a threat to her via e-mail that he will file a lawsuit against her for ‘moral damage’ if she does not agree to impound the pleading.”

“Respondent is well aware of the pages and pages of printouts and proof of … addiction and incredible expense that was incurred due to the Respondent’s pornography and sex addiction,” she claimed, about Sigcho-López.

She reiterated her assertion that after their marriage broke down, Sigcho-López allegedly used their funds for “pornographic websites, the search for female escorts and telephone ‘1-800 sex calls.’” Her motion ends by arguing he did not have a right to privacy that outweighs the public’s need to see her pleadings, but Sigcho-López was ultimately successful in sealing the records.

DuPage County Judge Robert E. Douglas reversed that finding this July, ruling in favor of the Coalition Opposing Governmental Secrecy, which argued through attorney Adam Florek that since the divorce, the Pilsen alderman and recent congressional candidate for the 4th District “has invited the public to judge his character.”

“Sigcho has since become an elected alderman, a ward committeeman, and now a congressional candidate who affirmatively invites public evaluation of his personal biography and character as qualifications for high constitutional office,” Florek wrote in a July filing. “Accordingly, he cannot reasonably ask the Court to leave critically important materials hidden from inspection, especially when his former wife … has declined to make such a request.”

Douglas’ July 10 order found “that the documents sought in this Matter are of interest whether they occurred before or after a candidate sought office; and … that the documents sought in this Matter were not properly sealed and impounded.”

The judge’s order took effect July 23, according to a copy of his ruling, and the documents are now accessible on the DuPage County Circuit Court’s case lookup website.

Sigcho-López is appealing the decision.

Sigcho-López’s spokesperson Jaclyn Driscoll also sent The Chicago Tribune an email statement Friday morning claiming, “These records were released illegally,” before clarifying she meant to say, “the records were illegally distributed, not illegally released.”

And his campaign organization issued a news release Wednesday blasting the Coalition Opposing Governmental Secrecy and noting the group lists conservative radio host and Republican political operative Dan Proft as its vice president.

“More and more Americans have become horrified by the genocide in Gaza, the coverup of the Epstein class and the pedophiles who run our government, and the unethical spending of our tax dollars on a foreign war in Iran,” Sigcho-López wrote. “I’ll continue to be the pro-Israel lobby’s worst nightmare.”

The alderman’s Friday statement repeated that news release and did not address specific questions from the Tribune about his past behavior beyond saying his ex-wife’s claims were unsubstantiated.

Sigcho-López’s statement argued his ex-wife never claimed he broke the law, though paying for sex is a crime in Illinois — one that’s led to turmoil in the 25th Ward before.

Former alderman-turned-FBI mole Danny Solis famously wore a wire on his colleagues after law enforcement confronted him with evidence that he sought sexual services at a massage parlor. After he stepped down, Sigcho-López won his seat in 2019.

Since then, Sigcho-López has built a reputation as a rabble-rouser on the left and one of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s most loyal surrogates in City Council. Last November, the alderman shouted at Gov. JB Pritzker over the governor’s opposition to Johnson’s proposed corporate head tax.

The progressive mayor sought for most of 2024 to install Sigcho-López into the coveted Zoning chair position, but he could not shore up enough support from other aldermen who found him divisive.

Sigcho-López survived a censure attempt that spring, when he was photographed speaking in front of a charred American flag at a pro-Palestinian rally outside City Hall that called for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to be canceled. Sigcho-López has said he was unaware the American flag would be burned at the protest, did not see it when he arrived and was not at the protest when the act occurred.

Before that vote, Johnson delivered an impassioned defense of his ally and suggested no alderman was more “diplomatic.” Sigcho-López remains chair of the Housing Committee.

“He has fought against gentrification,” Johnson told reporters in March 2024. “He is clear about the need for economic development, as well as affordable housing. That’s what the people of Chicago want.”

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