Former congressman Anthony Weiner, whose penchant for sexting strangers online ended his political career and led to an investigation that upended the presidential race, will appear in federal court Friday to plead guilty to charges in connection with his online communications with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, officials said. A law enforcement official said Weiner has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of transferring obscene material to a minor.

Start the conversation, or Read more at LA Daily News. </s> Anthony Weiner shed tears in federal court as he entered a guilty plea for sexting a 15-year-old girl, and agreed to serve prison time, and will also have to register as a sex offender.

The oft-disgraced Congressman appeared before the judge Friday in NYC and was charged with transferring obscene material to a minor. Weiner, who cried and apologized in court, surrendered to the FBI following its investigation.

According to the terms of his plea deal ... Weiner is agreeing to serve 21 to 27 months in prison, surrender his iPhone and pay a fine of up to $350,000. A judge will determine at a later date exactly what his sentence will be.

In court, Weiner admitted his "destructive impulses" had destroyed his life and career. He said he has a sickness "but I do not have an excuse" -- and acknowledged he'd hit "rock bottom." He added he's "committed to making amends to all those I have harmed."

Weiner traded sexually explicit texts with the teen, who lives in North Carolina and did not want to press charges because she felt the texting was consensual. </s> NEW YORK (AP) — Former Rep. Anthony Weiner has left a New York City halfway house after completing his prison sentence for illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl.

According to the New York Post , Weiner said while leaving the Bronx facility on Tuesday that it's "good to be out" and he hopes to "live a life of integrity and service."

The once-rising star in the Democratic Party was in Congress for nearly 12 years.

He'd been living in the halfway house since February after serving prison time in Massachusetts.

He's been ordered to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors said he had a series of sexually explicit Skype and Snapchat exchanges with a North Carolina high school student and encouraged the teen to strip naked and touch herself sexually. </s> NEW YORK — Former Rep. Anthony Weiner pleaded guilty Friday to transferring obscene material to a minor, according to the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.

As part of the plea agreement, he will have to comply with the Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act.

“Today, former Congressman Anthony Weiner admitted and pled guilty to sending sexually explicit images and directions to engage in sexual conduct to a girl he knew to be 15 years old,” acting US Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a statement. “Weiner’s conduct was not only reprehensible, but a federal crime, one for which he is now convicted and will be sentenced.”

Weiner, 52, was released on bail pending sentencing, which is scheduled for September 8, the release said.

David Schaefer, a spokesman for the law firm Covington & Burling, whose attorney, Arlo Devlin-Brown, is representing Weiner, said the former congressman’s lawyer will comment later Friday.

CNN, citing law enforcement officials, reported last September that prosecutors in the office of then-US Attorney Preet Bharara issued a subpoena for Weiner’s cell phone and other records as part of an investigation into alleged “sexting” with a purportedly underage girl.

The allegations first surfaced in the Daily Mail.

The online sexting relationship allegedly went on for months between Weiner and a girl claiming to be just 15. The Daily Mail reported she said he sent her numerous photos, one of him in a pool and at least one bare-chested.

The outlet reported that the girl said she reached out to Weiner last January on Twitter.

In a statement to CNN at the time, Weiner neither confirmed or denied sending the texts.

“I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgment about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent. I am filled with regret and heartbroken for those I have hurt,” he said.

Weiner continued: “While I have provided the Daily Mail with information showing that I have likely been the subject of a hoax, I have no one to blame but me for putting myself in this position. I am sorry.”

CNN was unable to confirm at the time that it was a hoax.

Weiner left Congress in June 2011 when sexually-charged, sometimes explicit, texts with women other than his wife first emerged. His social media habits continued after leaving Congress and contributed to his poor showing with his 2013 New York City mayoral campaign, a race in which he had once been a leading contender.

Weiner is estranged from Huma Abedin, a top aide to former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. A message left with a representative for Abedin seeking comment Friday morning was not immediately returned. </s> Former Rep. Anthony Weiner left a New York City halfway house on Tuesday after completing his prison sentence for illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl.

“It’s good to be out,” the disgraced former congressman said, according to the New York Post. “I hope to be able to live a life of integrity and service. I’m glad this chapter of my life is behind me.”

Weiner, 54, was ordered in April to register as a sex offender as he neared the end of a 21-month prison sentence. The judge designated Weiner a Level 1 offender under the state’s version of what’s known as Megan’s Law, meaning that he is thought to have a low risk of reoffending.

Weiner, a once-rising star in the Democratic Party who served in Congress for nearly 12 years, had been living in the halfway house since February after serving most of his sentence at a prison in Massachusetts. He still faces three years of court supervision.

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Weiner pleaded guilty in May 2017 to transferring obscene material to a minor.

Prosecutors said he had a series of sexually explicit Skype and Snapchat exchanges with a North Carolina high school student and encouraged the teen to strip naked and touch herself sexually.

At his sentencing, Weiner said he’d been a “very sick man for a very long time” and said he had a sex addiction.

Weiner’s lawyer said the former lawmaker likely exchanged thousands of messages with hundreds of women over the years and was communicating with up to 19 women when he encountered the teenager.

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It wasn’t the first time Weiner had been caught acting inappropriately.

After sending a lewd picture of himself to a college student in 2011, Weiner claimed his account had been hacked, then admitted online interactions with at least six other women while married to top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Weiner resigned from Congress, only to try for a political comeback with a run for New York City mayor in 2013. Then came the revelation that Weiner had used the alias “Carlos Danger” to send explicit photos to at least one woman after resigning from Congress.

Weiner received less than 5% of the Democratic primary vote.

Abedin filed for divorce from Weiner in 2017. But the two, who have a young son together, later agreed to discontinue the case in order to negotiate their separation privately.

The investigation into Weiner’s contact with the 15-year-old roiled the 2016 presidential campaign because emails Clinton had sent to Abedin were found on a laptop computer FBI agents seized from him. That led then-FBI Director James B. Comey to announce just days before the election that that agency was reopening its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State.

Days later, Comey said nothing in the new emails changed his view that Clinton could not be charged with a crime.

Nevertheless, Clinton felt damage was done and said Comey shared blame for her loss to Donald Trump. </s> Huma Abedin has filed for divorce from former Rep. Anthony Weiner, a move she made prior to Weiner pleading guilty Friday to transferring obscene material to a minor, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Abedin, a top aide to former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, was not present at Friday’s hearing.

A message left with a representative for Abedin seeking comment Friday morning was not returned.

At the hearing Friday, Weiner accepted responsibility for his conduct. “I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse,” he said through pauses and bouts of tears in an emotional statement. “I entered intensive treatment, found the courage to take a moral inventory of my defects, and began a program of recovery and mental health treatment that I continue to follow every day.”

As part of the plea agreement, Weiner, 52, will register as a sex offender and also will have to forfeit his iPhone, surrender his passport and continue mental health treatment. He is also barred from having any contact with the minor.

“Today, former Congressman Anthony Weiner admitted and pled guilty to sending sexually explicit images and directions to engage in sexual conduct to a girl he knew to be 15 years old,” acting US Attorney Joon H. Kim of the Southern District of New York said in a statement. “Weiner’s conduct was not only reprehensible, but a federal crime, one for which he is now convicted and will be sentenced.”

The government recommended between 21 and 27 months imprisonment, which Weiner’s counsel agreed to, though ultimately it is up to a judge to decide. </s> — Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner ‘s 21-month prison sentence for having illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl is set to end Tuesday.

Weiner was ordered to register as a Level 1 sex offender – meaning he’s thought to have a low risk of reoffending.

He has been staying at a Brooklyn halfway house.

Weiner must register for a minimum of 20 years. He’s required to verify his address every year and visit a police station every three years to have a new picture taken.

A once-rising star in the Democratic Party who served nearly 12 years in Congress, Weiner had a dramatic and sordid fall from grace after he sent a lewd picture of himself to a college student over Twitter in 2011.

Weiner initially claimed his account had been hacked, then admitted he’d had inappropriate online interactions with at least six other women while married to top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Weiner resigned from Congress that year but mounted a campaign for New York City mayor in 2013.

But his personal behavior was again his undoing after it was disclosed he sent explicit photos under the alias “Carlos Danger” to at least one woman after resigning from Congress.

Weiner ultimately garnered less than 5 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary.

His final fall came in 2017 after prosecutors say he sent a series of sexually explicit messages to a North Carolina high school student. Weiner pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor.

At his sentencing, he said he’d been a “very sick man for a very long time” because of his sex addiction.

Weiner’s attorney said the ex-lawmaker likely exchanged thousands of messages with hundreds of women over the years and was communicating with up to 19 women when he encountered the teenager. </s> Anthony Weiner pleaded guilty Friday to criminal charges following revelations the former Democratic congressman exchanged sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl.

“I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse,” Weiner told the court during his plea Friday. Though Weiner has not yet been sentenced, the charge carries between zero to 10 years in prison, and he agreed not to appeal any sentence between 21 to 27 months. The judge accepted the plea, and informed Weiner that he would have to register as a sex offender.

The plea comes eight months after the British tabloid Daily Mail published an interview with the high-school sophomore from North Carolina, who detailed months of conversations between her and Weiner, including suggestive texts and photos. The minor told the newspaper she would not seek to press charges against the New York congressman because “she believes her relationship with Weiner was consensual,” but agreed to be interviewed “out of concern that Weiner may be sexting with other underage girls.”

The revelation led to Weiner’s separation from his wife, Huma Abedin, who at the time was serving as the top aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (she formally filed for divorce from Weiner on Friday). It also prompted the launch of a formal investigation into the matter, during which the FBI seized Weiner’s electronic devices, including a laptop computer that contained several emails to Abedin. The discovery led to an announcement by then-FBI Director James Comey in late October that bureau would conduct a new investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email serves as secretary of state. The FBI’s investigation did not result in any charges, though Clinton has since claimed the move contributed to her failed presidential bid.

Though Weiner originally denied the allegations, claiming he had “likely been the subject of a hoax,” he also apologized for having “repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgement about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent.” Indeed, this is not the first sexting scandal that has embroiled Weiner’s political career. He resigned from Congress in 2011 after first denying, then admitting, to sending explicit photos to women on Facebook and Twitter. He faced another sexting scandal during his bid for New York mayor in 2013, during which it was revealed he had continued to send explicit photos and texts using the pseudonym “Carlos Danger.” </s> Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former New York congressman, is officially a free man.

The 54-year-old was seen leaving a Bronx halfway house on Tuesday morning which marked the final day of his 21-month sentence for having illicit contact with a 15-year-old girl which DailyMail.com exposed.

He told Fox upon his departure that he hoped to get back to my family and make up for some lost time.'

'I hope to be able to live a life of integrity and service, and I’m glad this chapter of my life is behind me.

He was released from prison in February but has been living in the halfway house since then.

It is unclear where he will now go. He and wife Huma Abedin, one of Hillary Clinton's top aides, are no longer together.

Since being released, Weiner has been touting a book deal and asking for investors for a marijuana business.

He told one potential investor that the 'sexual stuff shouldn't matter'.

The 'stuff' he referred to were explicit text messages he exchanged with a 15-year-old girl while he was married in September 2016.

Among them was one text which read: 'I would bust that tight p***y so hard you would leak and limp for a week.'
Former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner pleads guilty to sexting with a 15-year-old girl.