By Adam Andrzejewski for RealClearPolicy
After being sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 23-count conviction for racketeering, fraud and other corruption charges, disgraced former Congressman Chaka Fattah was released from prison last July after about one year.
But the icing on this crooked cake is that Fattah is collecting a taxpayer-funded pension. The estimated pension is at least $55,000 per year. Fattah is only 64 years old, so his estimated lifetime pension is $1 million.
The reason we must take an educated guess? Congressional pensions are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Fattah, a Democrat formerly representing Pennsylvania’s second congressional district, was found guilty in June 2016.
But a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in McDonnell v. United States a few days later changed the legal definition of bribery to exclude “pay for access” and Fattah appealed his conviction, placing his sentencing on hold.
He was sentenced on Dec. 12, 2016 to 10 years in prison and he reported to Federal Correctional Institution, McKean on Jan. 25, 2017.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia remanded for new sentencing and Fattah was again sentenced to 10 years on July 12, 2019.
So why is he out of prison?
It is unclear but the Federal Bureau of Prisons database shows he is in a residential reentry center in Philadelphia. And Fattah’s Twitter account shows that he launched a business while still “serving” his sentence, with his bio saying he’s President/CEO of Fattah Neuroscience Global Advisors – Catalysts in Uplifting Brain Research.
That’s as he continues to collect his pension, as no member of Congress has ever been stripped of their pension.
After Congress tightened ethics laws, convicted members of Congress were supposed to lose federal pensions. However, the law was riddled with loopholes, leaving convicted felons to collect taxpayer-funded pensions.
Syndicated with permission from RealClearWire.
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