Former NY Congressman Found Guilty of Tax Evasion, Faces 8 Months
Former New York Congressman Michael Grimm faces up to eight months in prison after being found guilty of tax evasion.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Grimm is scheduled to surrender on Sept. 10. He faced up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud last year.
The Staten Island Republican apologized for his crime Friday morning. "I was a darn good congressman," Grimm said. "I can't tell you how terribly I felt that I walked away from my constituents."
The former congressman's attorney, Daniel Rashbaun, had asked U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen to issue a sentence that would not include Grimm going to prison.
"Mr. Grimm made a terrible choice," he said. "A prison sentence does no one good here."
The New York Republican announced his resignation back in December after pleading guilty to tax fraud.
"This decision is made with a heavy heart, as I have enjoyed a very special relationship and closeness with my constituents, whom I care about deeply," he said at the time.
The former Marine and FBI agent was accused of concealing more than $1 million in revenue. He also failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars earned by employees at his Manhattan restaurant where he paid several employees off the books with cash.
"Although it was a little restaurant, I made some big mistakes," the New Yorker said at the time.
An assistant U.S. attorney, James Gatta, has no sympathy for Grimm and urged that the judge give him jail time.
"It is Mr. Grimm who embraces, even wraps himself in the oaths he has taken when it suits him, and then turns his back on those oaths," Gatta said.
Guy Molinari, a former Staten Island Borough President who helped Grimm get into office, says he is devastated by Grimm's fate.
"He's a Marine. So he can handle this. He can but I can't," Molinari said. "It's very painful. I haven't felt this bad in a long, long time."
Grimm won election in 2010. Back in November, he was re-elected to New York's 11th congressional district.
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