Fattah Jr. faces years of lock-up

Chaka Fattah Jr. could face five years in prison at sentencing scheduled Tuesday in federal court for bank and loan fraud.

The son of embattled Congressman Chaka Fattah Sr., whose own fraud trial is scheduled to begin May 2, was convicted in November after representing himself as his own lawyer at trial.

Fattah Jr. failed to dissuade jurors from finding him guilty of bilking the School District of Philadelphia by inflating budgets at a charter school he was serving as a consultant for a $450,000 contract.

The CEO of that school, Delaware Valley High Schools, David Shulick, was never charged with a crime.

Federal prosecutors at trial argued that Fattah Jr. had lived off bank loans for phony businesses for years.

Fattah Jr. arguedthat he was a legitimate businessman, and that he was being prosecuted in an attempt to pressure him into testifying against his father.

After he was convicted, Fattah Jr. argued he had inadequate counsel because he lost his consulting job and became unemployable after a 2012 raid of his apartment by the IRS and FBI was covered extensively in local media.

He filed his own lawsuit againstthe government for the raid, and predicted that he would win millions from the IRS and FBI after an FBI agent admitted during his trial toleakingnews of the raid to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

But Fattah’s lawsuit was thrown out by a judge in December over his failure to respond to court filings, the Inquirer reported.

Fattah Jr. did not respond to a request for comment ahead of sentencing.

He remains active on social media.Fattah Jr. recently posted an image on Twitterwith a Johnny Depp quote: “I think the thing to do is enjoy the ride while you’re on it.”