Rep. Chaka Fattah found guilty of 29 corruption charges

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) was found guilty Tuesday of all 29 corruption counts he faced during his trial, including taking bribes and using federal funds to pay off personal and political debts. Fattah had been accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars through tactics like mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, bank fraud, and falsified records.

Fattah has been in Congress since 1995. His lawyers argued that the "schemes were engineered without Fattah's knowledge by two political consultants who pleaded guilty in the case," but prosecutors say Fattah in fact routed the money through the consultants to pay back his illegal loan, The Associated Press reports.

Fattah has denied the charges, claiming, "This has been an eight-year effort by some in the Department of Justice to link my public service career to some form of wrongdoing."

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