Ex-state representative sentenced for money-laundering plan

PHILADELPHIA – A former Pennsylvania state lawmaker has been sentenced to seven months in federal prison for her role in a money laundering scheme.

Former state Rep. Leslie Acosta was forced to resign in 2016 after her state House colleagues discovered she had run for re-election and won despite secretly pleading guilty that year to a felony crime.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the Democrat told a judge at Thursday’s sentencing she knows what she did was wrong.

The judge credited her co-operation with the feds in pursuing a case against another politician, Renee Tartaglione.

Tartaglione was convicted last year of defrauding a non-profit mental health clinic out of about $1 million for her personal benefit through a pattern of self-dealing when she was its landlord.

Acosta could have faced more than three years in prison.

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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com