Ex-US Congressman Weiner sentenced to 21 months in teen 'sexting'

NEW YORK – Former US Congressman Anthony Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison on Monday for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl, setting off a scandal that played a role in the 2016 US presidential election.

Weiner, 53, started to cry as soon as the sentence was announced by US District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan. He pleaded guilty in May to transferring obscene messages to a minor, and agreed he would not appeal any sentence of 27 months or less.

Weiner's lawyers had asked that he be sentenced to probation rather than prison, saying he acted out of the "depths of an uncontrolled sickness" and was now being treated.