Former Rep. Mel Reynolds to be sentenced on tax charges
Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds is up for sentencing on convictions that he failed to file tax returns for income he made while consulting for Chicago businessmen in Africa.
Thursday's sentencing comes some seven months after U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman found Reynolds guilty in a bench trial on four misdemeanor counts.
Reynolds has been representing himself. In a Wednesday filing, he argued that one year of probation would be an appropriate sentence. Prosecutors argued earlier that he deserves at least two years behind bars because he had flouted the law for so long. The maximum sentence is four years in prison.
The Harvard graduate and Rhodes Scholar resigned from Congress in 1995 after being convicted of statutory rape. He was later convicted on charges that included concealing debts.