Ex-Congressman Grimm gets 8 months on tax fraud charge

NEW YORK, July 17 (UPI) -- Former Congressman and FBI agent Michael Grimm was sentenced to eight months in prison Friday after his tax fraud conviction in January.

Grimm, a Republican who represented New York City's Staten Island and Brooklyn in Congress, was charged in 2014 with a 20-count indictment alleging an attempt to hide over $1 million in earnings and employees' wages from a New York restaurant he operated. He admitted under reporting state and federal taxes, as well as underreporting restaurant receipts in paying employees illegally.

He was elected to Congress in 2011, and while under indictment, won re-election in 2012. He left Congress after his guilty plea.

In a Brooklyn court Friday, U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen said, "Your moral compass, Mr. Grimm, needs some reorientation. Everyone falls from grace when they are caught committing crimes. Some fall farther than others."

He faced up to three years in prison. He will remain on probation for one year after his sentence ends.

Grimm achieved notoriety in 2014 when he physically threatened a television reporter after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. After hearing a question about the investigation against him, Grimm told NY1 reporter Michael Scotto he would be thrown off a Capitol Building balcony. Grimm later apologized.