A veteran New York assemblyman accused of pocketing $1 million from people who did business with the state has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Anthony Seminerio had pleaded guilty last year to defrauding his Queens constituents of honest services.
In court papers, his lawyers had argued for home detention. But a federal judge in Manhattan said on Thursday he deserved prison time for abusing the public trust.
The 74-year-old Seminerio had served in the assembly since 1978 before resigning last year.
Prosecutors accused him of using his consulting firm to solicit about $1 million from a hospital, college and lobbying firm without doing any work for them.
