US Rep. Tierney's wife faces felony charges
The wife of Massachusetts Congressman John Tierney has agreed to plead guilty to charges she helped her brother conceal what authorities say was an illegal offshore gambling business that generated millions of dollars.
Federal prosecutors say 59-year-old Patrice Tierney of Salem is set to plead guilty in the U.S. District Court in Boston on Wednesday to four counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns.
Tierney's fugitive brother, Robert Eremian, and another sibling face charges including racketeering, money laundering and operating an illegal gambling business.
Congressman Tierney says his wife believed that Eremian's income came from a career in selling or licensing software to legal internet gambling businesses.
Tierney, who is facing a Republican challenger in upcoming elections, says his wife accepts full responsibility for being "willfully blind" to what her brother was doing.
