What's next for Fattah family?

FOR MOST OF his life, Chaka Fattah Jr.'s surname has been a blessing. But somewhere along the line, those same six letters became a curse.

Sure, being the son of a powerful congressman has its perks: Favors, access, contracts, rock shrimp.

Fattah, for instance, never graduated college, yet a close friend of his father, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, was happy to help pay down his student debt.

As a 20-something "lifestyle mogul," Fattah somehow obtained jaw-dropping lines of credit and landed a huge school-district subcontract.

He lived at the Ritz-Carlton, drove a $77,000 Range Rover, dressed in Armani and Trussini, and munched on Chilean sea bass at his own Buddakan-catered Super Bowl party.

But it was only a matter of time before Fattah, now 32, caught the attention of the FBI. Yesterday, he was convicted of 22 of 23 counts in a fraud and tax-evasion indictment that he'd insisted was just a big misunderstanding.

Now, federal prosecutors will focus on his father, the 11-term Democratic congressman that they indicted over the summer. He's running for re-election as he prepares for trial in May.

The younger Fattah - who served as his own attorney at trial despite lacking any legal experience - said he was surprised by the guilty verdict and claimed if he'd had more money the result might've been different.

Wearing a purple paisley tie and gray three-piece suit, Fattah told reporters that he planned to appeal on the grounds that an FBI agent who tipped off the Inquirer to the 2012 raid of his condo cost him approximately $360,000 in income. That, he said, prevented him from hiring a high-powered law firm that "people of means" - like himself - would naturally choose.

"That 360 grand, I could have taken $100,000 and hired Cozen O'Connor," said Fattah, after popping an orange Starburst and assuring a couple supporters that everything "will be fine."

"People with money get to choose what they want to do," Fattah said.

Standing down the hallway, Rep. Fattah piled on, saying prosecutors seem hell-bent on destroying the Fattah family by any means possible. The congressman remained defiant, comparing his son's conviction to the Battle of Brandywine - a temporary setback in the Revolutionary War.

"There will be a day in which my son will walk out of the courtroom free and not guilty of these charges," Rep. Fattah said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic sharks smell blood in the city's political waters. Four people are planning to challenge Fattah in next spring's congressional election - state Reps. Dwight Evans and Brian Sims, 9th Democratic Ward leader Dan Muroff and Lower Merion Township Commissioner Brian Gordon.

Asked if the feds are trying to tarnish the family name, Rep. Fattah said: "Not going to happen in this city. Because for decades my family's been in the business of helping young people - millions - and we're going to continue to do that for a long time to come.

"This is a tough day, a significant loss," he said, "but there will be another day."

The congressman, however, is facing the same problem as his son: a sudden lack of funds. For years, Rep. Fattah had been using campaign cash to cover legal expenses, but that well his running dry; he had only $822 at the last reporting date.

Regardless, Rep. Fattah won't be going to trial without a lawyer, like his son, which is usually a bad idea. Just ask former state Sen. T. Milton Street Sr., who opined on the Fattah case yesterday as he met with reporters outside of the District Attorney's Office to discuss a planned press conference about the state Porngate email scandal.

"I'd still be in prison if I had gone down there and tried to represent myself," said Street, an ex-hot-dog vendor.

Street, the brother of the former mayor, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison in 2008 after he was convicted of three counts of failing to pay taxes. He said having an attorney saved him from getting convicted of four counts of fraud as well.

"Not paying your taxes is like being pregnant and saying you're not," he said. "You either did or you didn't."

Yesterday, Rep. Fattah didn't appear particularly worried - he rarely does - about his family's legal troubles. He even smiled at times, supremely confident that, in the end, the government's case against him and his son would crumble.

"We refuse to compromise," he said. "We will not go cower in a corner somewhere."

Staff writer David Gambacorta contributed to this report.

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