{"id":28387,"date":"2016-12-12T20:33:42","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T04:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28387"},"modified":"2016-12-12T20:38:05","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T04:38:05","slug":"former-congressman-sentenced-10-years-involvement-criminal-enterprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28387","title":{"rendered":"Former Congressman Sentenced to 10 Years for Involvement in Criminal Enterprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"Veterans<\/span><\/p>\n

A federal judge sentenced former Congressman Chaka Fattah Sr<\/strong>. to 10 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was involved in several schemes intended to further his political and financial interests by misappropriating federal, charitable and and campaign funds, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III also ordered the 60-year-old Fattah to pay $600,000 in restitution and to forfeit $14,500.<\/span><\/p>\n

On June 21, 2016, Fattah was convicted of participating in racketeering, bribery, wire fraud, honest services fraud and money laundering conspiracies, and for bribery, mail fraud and money laundering.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Department\u201cChaka Fattah was a long-serving and powerful member of the U.S. House of Representatives who was entrusted by his constituents with serving their best interests,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell. \u00a0\u201cInstead, he perverted that trust and turned his office into a criminal organization designed to support his own political and financial interests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a former congressman, Fattah conspired with his co-defendants in a series of schemes to use his position for personal gain at the expense of the public good,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger. \u00a0\u201cWe are pleased with today\u2019s outcome while also recognizing the tragedy of this defendant\u2019s fall from grace. \u00a0We hope that the lengthy prison sentence imposed today deters those public officials who might be tempted to engage in corruption, as our office remains committed to investigating and prosecuting public corruption at all levels of government.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the evidence, Fattah and certain associates borrowed $1 million from a wealthy supporter for his failed 2007 campaign for mayor of Philadelphia, and disguised the funds as a loan to a consulting company.<\/span><\/p>\n

After he lost the election, Fattah returned $400,000 of unused campaign funds to the donor and arranged for Educational Advancement Alliance (EAA), a non-profit entity founded and controlled by Fattah, to repay the remaining $600,000 using charitable and federal grant funds that passed through two other companies, including one run by co-defendant Robert Brand.<\/span><\/p>\n

To conceal the contribution and repayment scheme, Fattah, his co-conspirators, and others created sham contracts and made false entries in accounting records, tax returns and campaign finance disclosure statements.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"criminal_justice_jurisprudenceFollowing his election defeat, Fattah also sought to extinguish about $130,000 in campaign debt owed to a political consultant by agreeing to arrange for the award of federal grant funds to the consultant. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fattah directed the consultant to apply for a $15 million grant (which ultimately he did not receive) on behalf of a then-non-existent non-profit entity. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In exchange for Fattah\u2019s efforts to arrange the award, the consultant agreed to forgive the campaign debt.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Fattah misappropriated funds from his mayoral and congressional campaigns to repay his son\u2019s student loan debt. \u00a0To execute the scheme, Fattah arranged for his campaigns to make payments to a political consulting company, which the company used to make 34 successful loan payments on behalf of Fattah\u2019s son, totaling approximately $23,000, between 2007 and 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning in 2008, Fattah communicated with individuals in the legislative and executive branches in an effort to secure for co-defendant Herbert Vederman an ambassadorship or an appointment to the U.S. Trade Commission. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In exchange, Vederman provided money and other items of value to Fattah. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of this scheme, the defendants sought to conceal an $18,000 bribe payment from Vederman to Fattah by disguising it as a payment for a sham car sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fattah\u2019s four co-defendants Vederman, Brand, Karen Nicholas and Bonnie Bowser were convicted alongside Fattah for charges in connection with the schemes on June 21, 2016. \u00a0 Judge Bartle also sentenced Vederman today to 24 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $50,000 fine. \u00a0Sentencing is set for Dec. 13, 2016 for Brand and Nicholas and Dec. 14, 2016 for Bowser.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA A federal judge sentenced former Congressman Chaka Fattah Sr. to 10 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy. He was involved in several schemes intended to further his political and financial interests…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-Congressman Sentenced to 10 Years for Involvement in Criminal Enterprise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A federal judge sentenced former Congressman Chaka Fattah Sr. to 10 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy and ordered $600,000 as restitution.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28387\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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