Businessman who bribed state legislators asks for leniency
The politically connected businessman who bribed two Illinois lawmakers in a bid to change state law in his favor has asked a judge for a relatively light prison sentence, arguing that the people of Illinois would have benefited from legislation at the center of his corrupt scheme.
Lawyers for James T. Weiss asked U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger to give him a prison sentence of less than 27 months, arguing in part that the bill Weiss wanted to pass would have generated at least one penny in tax revenue on each transaction on so-called sweepstakes machines.
A federal jury in June found Weiss guilty of honest services wire and mail fraud, bribery and lying to the FBI. The bribery scheme involved then-state Rep. Luis Arroyo, who is now in prison, and then-state Sen. Terry Link, who cooperated with the FBI but faces sentencing Nov. 8 for his own tax crimes.
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