17-Year Term For Official In Tax Scam.

The mastermind behind an embezzlement scheme that took nearly $50 million from the District of Columbia's government was sentenced Tuesday to 17 and a half years in prison and ordered to pay more than $60 million in forfeited assets, restitution and taxes. The woman, Harriette Walters, 52, is the last of 11 people to be sentenced in what officials have described as the largest and longest-running embezzlement scheme in the city's history. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]