Ex-Democratic representative and convicted felon Chaka Fattah received a 10-year prison sentence Monday after being found guilty of federal racketeering and bribery charges earlier this year.
Prosecutors had sought as many as 21 years for the longtime Pennsylvania lawmaker, who ran afoul of the law when he took an illegal $1 campaign million loan for his failed run for Philadelphia mayor in 2007. Philly’s WPVI-TV has more:
As he awaited his sentence, Fattah told the judge he had mixed emotions: saddened to find himself in court but grateful for the work he was able to do over 37 years as a state and federal lawmaker. “I’ve helped tens of millions of people,” said Fattah, 60. “(That) has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve been found on the wrong side of these questions by a jury.” Fattah lost the spring primary days before trial and resigned his seat following his June conviction. The jury found he took the $1 million loan from the chairman of Sallie Mae, the student loan corporation. He returned $400,000 of it and repaid some of the rest with federal grant money he had steered to an education nonprofit run by former aides…. … “For someone so interested in advancing education for the disadvantaged, you had the temerity to steal from the Educational Advancement Alliance, a nonprofit supported by government funds,” U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle said. “While you have done much good, you also engaged in grave and widespread criminal activity.”
More here.
