PHILADELPHIA _ Former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison, one of the longest terms of incarceration ever imposed on a member of Congress convicted of federal corruption crimes.
Addressing the court, the West Philadelphia Democrat expressed regret for some of the decisions he had made and how his conviction had affected his co-defendants and constituents, but stopped short of fully acknowledging his guilt.
"The investigation and the trial has been the most disappointing event in my now 60-year life," he told U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III. "I've helped tens of millions of people and that has nothing to do with the fact that I have been found on the wrong side of these questions by a jury."
Bartle, however, called Fattah's crimes "astonishing" and "extremely serious" _ especially for an elected official representing one of the poorest congressional districts in the country and one whose own income put him among the "1 percent." He ordered Fattah to report to begin serving his sentence Jan. 25.
"You abused the trust they placed in you time and time again," he said of the voters who elected Fattah 11 times to represent them in Congress. "Your flagrant behavior undermines the confidence of the citizenry in all public institutions."
Fattah's sentence fell below the 17 to 22 years recommended by federal prosecutors but remains the second-highest prison term ever received by a member of Congress _ capped only by the 13 years former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., received in 2009 for soliciting millions of dollars in bribes.
"That's about as good as we could have expected," Fattah lawyer Albert S. Dandridge turned to tell a courtroom packed with supporters and family members moments after the sentence was imposed.
Fattah himself betrayed little emotion after the hearing, but thanked his lawyers and the crowd for their support.
The sentence capped off what has been a tough year for Fattah, who lost his first primary in two decades to U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa., just days before his trial began and resigned two days after the verdict under pressure from his colleagues.
His wife, former WCAU-TV news anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah, though not charged in his case, saw her career end this year after she was linked to the sham sale in 2012 of her Porsche convertible _ a transaction prosecutors said was intended to cover up a bribe to her husband. She sat in the courtroom Monday typing away on an iPad during the hearing.
His son, Chaka "Chip" Jr., was sentenced to five years in prison in February in a bank and tax fraud case tied to loans he fraudulently obtained to fund a luxury lifestyle.
But while the younger Fattah's crimes stemmed from his extravagant taste in fancy cars, clothes, and apartments, most of the congressman's misdeeds centered on money he owed creditors after a disastrous 2007 bid to become mayor of Philadelphia.
Addressing the court Monday, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Gibson said that the ex-congressman's trial proved his willingness to sell out his office and his constituents over and over again.
He stole from some of the same causes for which he sought credit, including the education nonprofit he raided to repay an illegal $1 million campaign loan from the mayoral campaign.
Jurors also found that he agreed to misdirect federal grant money to a fake nonprofit in order to pay a political strategist, siphoned funds from his campaign coffer to cover his son's college debts, and accepted more than $27,000 in bribes from wealthy fundraiser who was hoping to land a White House appointment as an ambassador.
"That type of conduct cannot go unpunished," said Gibson. "You will never find another individual who knew more intimately how destructive corrupt conduct could be. He knew exactly what he was doing."
But the ex-congressman's lawyers urged leniency, citing the good their client had accomplished during his three decades of public service _ first as a state legislator, as a champion for education and public housing reform, and then in Washington, where he became a leading advocate for brain research, scholarship programs, and antiviolence measures.
Bartle seemed unimpressed with that argument, though the sentence he eventually imposed was closer to what the defense had proposed.
"It was your job as a congressman to do good work," he judge said. "This court must signal to the public that your crimes are unacceptable."
In addition to his prison term, Fattah was ordered to serve three years' federal probation upon his release and pay, along with his co-defendants, $600,000 in restitution to the federal agencies he defrauded.
