Former Pa. Senator Gets 55 Months for Nonprofit and Taxpayer Fraud

Former Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo was sentenced yesterday to four years and seven months in prison on fraud and corruption charges that included using nonprofit money to finance a lavish lifestyle, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Prosecutors had sought a much longer term for the 66-year-old Mr. Fumo, a major Harrisburg power player before his legal troubles.

The longtime legislator was convicted in March of fraud running into the millions of dollars, including billing taxpayers for work his Senate staff did on personal and political projects and financing spending sprees with money from the Citizens’ Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a Philadelphia nonprofit group run by a top aide.