Former state Senator Nicholas Spano pleaded guilty to charges that he filed fraudulent tax returns today in U.S. District Court in White Plains.

He was accused of filing false tax returns between 2000 and 2008, underreporting income and deducting fraudulent expenses. The tax fraud complaint and the plea agreement are attached to this article as pdf files. 

Spano represented District 35, which included most of southern and central Westchester County, for 20 years in the State Senate.

He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a maximum fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss derived from the crime. He'll be sentenced June 11.

Meanwhile, according to The Journal News, a federal complaint unsealed today as Spano turned himself in for arraignment alleges influence peddling connected to the income he was underreporting. Read about that here.