Longtime Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., was convicted in a federal court Tuesday of taking bribes and stealing charitable funds and federal money.
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The U.S. Justice Department outlined widespread corruption in its prosecution of Fattah, who has represented Pennsylvania’s 2nd Congressional District since his election in 1994.
Fattah used federal grant money to repay some of the money, routing it through a campaign consultant, the jury found.
Fattah had been in Congress since 1995 but lost the April primary and his bid for his 12th term. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Emergency Homeowner Loan Program, and three of his associates were found guilty this week for their roles in a racketeering conspiracy that stemmed from Fattah’s failed 2007 campaign to serve as mayor of Philadelphia.
Fattah is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
His lawyer Samuel Silver told jurors in closing arguments that federal authorities delivered a “mishmash” of a case in a desperate effort charge the congressman with something after investigating his family for years.
The senior member of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation was convicted Tuesday on numerous criminal counts related to corruption, stemming from an indictment a year ago that also ensnared several of his political allies. Former Gov. Ed Rendell a Democrat who testified for Vederman, his deputy when Rendell was mayor of Philadelphia later said that prosecutors don’t understand how politics work.
Vederman paid Fattah and his wife, former television anchor Renee Chenault Fattah, $18,000 to help them purchase a vacation home in the Poconos.
The four-week trial concluded quicker than most observers expected and did not involve any bombshell testimony or evidence entered by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
“It’s my understanding that a congressman who’s been convicted can not vote”, Kenney said.
Fattah’s son, 33-year-old Chaka “Chip” Fattah Jr., was convicted of 22 counts of tax fraud by a federal jury in November 2015, according to WCAU. To hide the contribution and repayment scheme, the defendants and others created sham contracts and made false entries in accounting records, tax returns and campaign finance disclosure statements.
But on Tuesday, Fattah’s 30-year political career appeared in tatters after a federal jury convicted him of financial schemes detailed in a racketeering indictment. She was cited in the case over the sham sale of her Porsche, which prosecutors said was a bribe.
In a statement released after his conviction, Fattah made no reference to leaving before his congressional term ends.
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Instead, Nicholas used the grant funds to pay $20,000 to a political consultant, $10,000 to her attorney and write several checks to herself from EAA’s operating account. He even stole money from his own campaigns.
