MILWAUKEE — Former Milwaukee Alderman Willie Wade was sentenced Thursday to 4 months in prison for a wire fraud scheme.
According to court documents, Wade took $30,000 cash from a businessman by claiming he was negotiating on behalf of a current Milwaukee alderman to accept a bribe in order to vote in favor of a downtown strip club license.
Those documents also confirm the current Milwaukee alderman was unaware of Wade's plan and never agreed to any sort of bribe.
As a part of his sentence, Wade must also serve three years on supervised release.
In Thursday's sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman called Wade's offenses "extremely serious", saying they can undermine public confidence in government by suggesting that public policy can be “bought and paid for.”
Consistent with the terms of a plea agreement filed in the case, Judge Adelman ordered Wade to repay the money he received as a condition of his supervised release.
Wade made an initial payment of $10,000 toward this obligation before his sentencing hearing.
Wade served as the District 7 alderman on Milwaukee's north side from 2003 to early 2016. Khalif Rainey now represents the district.
