Son of indicted U.S. congressman gets five years prison for fraud
By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The son of U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah of Philadelphia was sentenced on Tuesday to five years in federal prison for defrauding banks to obtain business loans he used for personal expenses, including paying gambling debts and buying jewelry.
Chaka Fattah Jr., 33, was convicted in November of all but one of the 23 counts he faced. He was immediately taken into custody to begin serving his sentence, according to the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney's office.
His father, an 11-term Democratic congressman, is charged with corruption in an unrelated federal case. He was indicted in July in connection with misuse of federal, charitable and campaign funds and alleged bribery.
The elder Fattah has denied the charges and claimed the prosecution of his son was politically motivated.
Fattah Jr., who acted as his own attorney at trial, has said he expects his conviction to be overturned on appeal.
He was charged along with his business partner, Matthew Amato, who agreed to wear a wire and cooperate with federal investigators. Amato pleaded guilty in 2014 as part of a deal with prosecutors.
In addition to committing bank fraud, prosecutors said Fattah worked for a company that took in local public school funds to provide education to at-risk children. Fattah inflated the budgets submitted to the school district and kept the extra money for himself, according to prosecutors.
Fattah was also accused of failing to pay his taxes. He argued at trial that he was a legitimate businessman who made errors but never intended to commit wrongdoing.
The elder Fattah is scheduled to go on trial in Philadelphia in May, according to court records. U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III, who is overseeing both Fattah cases, recently denied a bid from Fattah's defense lawyers to withdraw because he has failed to pay their fees fully.
(This version of the story was corrected to include changes issued by the U.S. Attorney's office and corrects age of Fattah to 33 from 34, in second paragraph)
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Dan Grebler)
