Almost a year after being found guilty, former Democrat State Sen. Carlos Uresti (San Antonio) is finally heading to federal prison.
On Tuesday, a federal judge found Uresti guilty of bribery in addition to the money laundering and fraud charges he was found guilty of last year.
Uresti was put on trial last year and found guilty of defrauding multiple investors in a company he was deeply involved in, FourWinds Logistics. Prosecutors argued the company was nothing but a front for a Ponzi scheme. One of the witnesses testifying against Uresti was a former mistress of his who accused Uresti of both having an affair with her and defrauding her of $900,000.
Uresti was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $6.3 million in restitution to FourWinds victims.
After Uresti was found guilty last summer his subsequent departure from the Texas Senate forced the special election in Senate District 19 which Republicans won by electing State Sen. Pete Flores (Pleasanton)—a move which allowed Republicans to retain a three-fifths majority in the Texas Senate.
Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra gave Uresti until Tuesday afternoon to turn himself in and begin his sentence.
