Prosecutors Want Years of Jail Time for Chaka Fattah Jr.
FILE – In this Aug. 14, 2014 file photo Chaka Fattah Jr., walks from the U.S. Courthouse in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Federal prosecutors want Chaka Fattah Jr. in prison for years.
In court papers filed this week, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul L. Gray and Eric L. Gibson are seeking about six years in prison for the Congressman’s son. Fattah Jr., who goes by “Chip,” was convicted of 22 counts in federal court last November.
Fattah Jr. was chared with offenses including filing false income tax returns, stealing from the School District of Philadelphia, making false statements to banks in order to obtain loans, and failing to pay federal taxes. He faces four to six years in prison, per the Inquirer, and prosecutors are asking for a sentence on the higher end.
“The evidence demonstrated incontrovertibly that Fattah was a habitual schemer, liar and fraudster, obsessed with wealth and material possessions — the opposite of the picture of the well-intentioned legitimate businessman and entrepreneur that he tried to sell the jury at trial,” Gray and Gibson wrote.
Like the Inquirer, Philadelphia magazine could not reach Fattah Jr. for comment. He has not submitted a sentencing recommendation; he represented himself at trial and will likely represent himself again at sentencing.
His father, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, has been indicted, but told a judge earlier this week he was more concerned about fundraising for a re-election bid than with his criminal defense.
Last week, Citified insider Mustafa Rashed wrote that Dwight Evans, not Fattah, is the front-runner in the Congressional race. Fattah Sr. was at Joe Biden’s “moonshot” cancer cure press conference at Penn two weeks ago and spoke at the end of it: “I’m glad you’re doing this in the right Congressional District.”
Fattah Jr.’s sentencing hearing is Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III is presiding.
Follow @dhm on Twitter.