Jurors Hear Closing Arguments In Chaka Fattah Jr. Fraud Trial
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A federal court jury heard day-long closing arguments, and deliberated for about a half hour in the Chaka Fattah Jr. bank and tax fraud trial. Jurors will have to decide whether he defrauded banks, the IRS and the Philadelphia School District, or whether the government unfairly targeted him.
Jurors will return to deliberations in the morning.
Federal prosecutor Eric Gibson showed jurors documents and replayed clips of secretly recorded conversations involving the defendant. Gibson alleges rather than obtaining loans for legitimate business expenses, through false statements and fraud, Chaka Fattah Jr. improperly used the funds for his personal benefit between 2005 and 2012.
On one of the tapes caught by the FBI, Fattah boasted to a friend about beating the system by getting credit under false pretenses, saying "why the F...would I pay that off?" Gibson ended his closing argument by saying "enough with the lying, stealing and cheating, it's time for accountability...enough with living high on other people's money."
Fattah, who represented himself, told jurors government witnesses who testified have "fallen apart in this case." He pointed to his former roommate, whom he says lied to federal authorities, and an FBI agent who disclosed - while on the witness stand - that as the lead investigator, he was the source who tipped off a reporter about the raids on Fattah's home and office.
Fattah says he had four lines of businesses that made over $1 million over a ten-year period, and the case by the government was a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the businesses he ran.
