Former D.C. Council Member Michael A. Brown Sentenced to 39 Months in Bribery Case

Former District of Columbia Council member Michael A. Brown was sentenced to 39 months in prison for taking more than $50,000 in bribes in an undercover FBI sting.

"I should have resisted the culture of corruption going through our city," Brown said at his sentencing hearing Thursday.

After serving his prison sentence, Brown will be under supervised probation for 24 months. He also must perform 200 hours of community service.

Prosecutors asked for a prison term of 43 months, the most he could get under the terms of a plea bargain he struck last year.

"The district cannot take its home rule for granted," the prosecutor said.

Brown admitted taking $55,000 in bribes from a man he thought was a businessman seeking preferential treatment on government contracts. The businessman turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

Brown also admitted taking illegal campaign money from businessman Jeffrey Thompson, who is awaiting sentencing for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to illegally finance local and federal elections, including the 2010 campaign of Mayor Vincent Gray, who denies wrongdoing and has not been charged.

Brown is the third former D.C. Council member sentenced under U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen's far-reaching political corruption probe that began three years ago. Harry Thomas and Kwame Brown already were sentenced. Twelve people have been charged.

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