Ex-Puerto Rico senator pleads guilty to 93 charges

In this Oct. 2, 2008 file photo, then Puerto Rico Sen. Jorge de Castro Font is surrounded by reporters after being released on bail in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The former high-profile senator has pleaded guilty to 93 charges, including extortion, money laundering, bribery and perjury. The island’s justice department said Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, that de Castro Font was sentenced to 10 years in prison. AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File

SAN JUAN— A former high-profile Puerto Rico senator has pleaded guilty to 93 charges, including extortion, money laundering, bribery and perjury.

The island’s justice department said Thursday that Jorge de Castro Font was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

De Castro Font is already in prison serving a five-year federal sentence after pleading guilty last May to 20 counts of honest services wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion. A judge on Wednesday ordered that he serve the new sentence concurrently with the federal one.

De Castro was once spokesman for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party and chair of the powerful rules committee. He was accused of demanding money in exchange for favorable legislation.

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