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Ex-Philly DA Seth Williams’ campaign chief headed to prison for tax evasion

Billy Miller, son of one of the city's renowned political consultants, is ordered to serve five months in prison.

File photo.
File photo.Read moreFILE

Seth Williams' former campaign manager will soon be joining the disgraced former district attorney in prison.

Billy Miller – son of the late William R. Miller IV, a legend in Philadelphia political circles – was sentenced Tuesday to five months on tax-evasion charges.

The younger Miller, a Glenside resident, pleaded guilty this year to concealing more than $390,000 from the IRS that he earned working on campaigns including Williams' between 2010 and 2014.

Miller's graft came to light in 2016 as part of the bribery and corruption investigation into Williams, who is now a year into his five-year stint at a federal prison in West Virginia.

Prosecutors also alleged that Miller helped Williams steal more than $4,000 in campaign contributions in 2010 that the city's top prosecutor later spent on himself.

Miller's introduction to Philadelphia Democratic politics started in his childhood. His father, who died in 2016, was the man behind the campaigns of some of the highest-profile elected officeholders in the city, including W. Wilson Goode Sr., the city's first black mayor, and State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams during his run against Mayor Kenney in 2015.

Williams was one of the younger Miller's highest-profile clients, but the city's politically influential electricians' union, led by John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, often retained his consulting services as well.

In addition to imposing the prison term, U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky ordered Miller to serve three years' probation upon his release, to complete 200 hours of community service, and to pay more than $94,000 in back taxes.