Ex-US Rep. Chaka Fattah to start 10-year prison term

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF/AP) - The longtime Pennsylvania congressman convicted of racketeering is set to start a 10-year prison term.

Ex-U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah must surrender Wednesday at FCI-McKean in Lewis Run. That's in western Pennsylvania near the New York border.

The 60-year-old Philadelphia Democrat spent 20 years in Congress before his June conviction.

The jury found he took an illegal $1 million campaign loan, then used government and nonprofit funds to repay it. Four co-defendants were also convicted.

Fattah lost his bid to stay out of prison while he appeals.

It's unclear if he will be placed in FCI-McKean's medium security prison (Federal Correctional Institution) or low-security camp, the minimum security institution.

His lawyers did not immediately return messages Tuesday.

FCI-McKean's website says it's for male offenders. It has 1,202 total inmates: 940 at the FCI and 262 at the camp.

His son, Chaka "Chip" Fattah Jr., is serving five years in an overlapping bank fraud case at a prison in Michigan.