A federal judge has rejected a bid for a new trial from former Arizona Republican Congressman Rick Renzi, who is serving a three-year prison term.
The ruling comes after Renzi’s lawyers argued in October that a key witness was told by FBI agents he could receive payments in return for his testimony. The government did not disclose that to the defense.
Government attorneys denied any payments were promised, saying agents simply read a standard set of disclosures that included a mention of possible witness payments.
Renzi was convicted in 2013 of corruption and money laundering. He did not appeal convictions related to looting his family’s insurance business to fund his first election.
Renzi, who represented Arizona’s 1 st District in Congress from 2003 until 2008, began serving his federal sentence in West Virginia in February.