COLUMBUS, Ohio — A judge has sentenced a defendant in a state treasurer’s office bribery scheme to 45 months in prison.
At Thursday’s sentencing federal judge Michael Watson also ordered former Canton-based financial adviser Douglas Hampton to forfeit $2.2 million.
The government says defendants in the scheme used the position of former deputy treasurer Amer Ahmad to secure lucrative state contracts that enriched themselves and their businesses.
Ahmad, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s former city comptroller, skipped bail and fled to Pakistan in April after pleading guilty to a kickback scheme. Federal prosecutors are now seeking a 15-year prison sentence for Ahmad.
Prosecutors say the 40-year-old Hampton made payments in exchange for receiving government brokerage services business.
Hampton’s attorney asked for a sentence of just over a year, saying Hampton had cooperated fully.
Another defendant was sentenced Wednesday and a third will be sentenced Dec. 1.
Ahmad is under arrest in Pakistan where authorities say he fled to avoid sentencing.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
