Ex-Rep. Cooley sentenced for tax fraud

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BEND, Ore., Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Former Oregon congressman Wes Cooley will serve time in a federal prison for tax fraud and pay $3.6 million in back taxes and restitution, a court ordered.

Cooley, 80, who represented Oregon's 2nd Congressional District from 1995-1997, pleaded guilty in November to making $1.1 million from a $10 million investment fraud run by a former IRS agent, and not reporting $494,000 in earnings on his 2002 federal tax return, Courthouse News Service reported Wednesday.

Cooley, who lives in Bend, Ore., was sentenced Monday to spend a year and a day in a federal prison and ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution to investors and $138,470 in back taxes to the IRS. He must report to prison by March 11.

The former IRS agent, George Tannous, was sentenced in March to 33 months in federal prison for conspiracy and tax fraud.

Another defendant, felon De Elroy Beeler Jr., pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax fraud and will be sentenced Feb. 4, Courthouse News Service said.