Former Steve Stockman aide gets 18-month sentence in campaign finance scheme

A former aide to ex-U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for helping the Friendswood Republican with a $1.25 million campaign finance scam.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal also gave the former aide, Jason Posey, three years of supervised release and ordered that he pay back over half a million dollars that the scheme bilked from wealthy Republican donors and misused for personal and campaign expenses. Stockman received a 10-year prison sentence in November for masterminding the plot, which prosecutors called a "white-collar crime spree."

Posey pleaded guilty last year to one count each of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. In December, another ex-Stockman aide, Thomas Dodd, also got an 18-month sentence for his role in the scam.

To avoid legal scrutiny, Stockman advised Posey to flee to Egypt for two and a half years, according to prosecutors.

Stockman served two nonconsecutive terms in the U.S. House until he gave up his seat to unsuccessfully challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in 2014.