He is to enter federal prison in the coming weeks to serve a four-year sentence. A jury in April convicted Geddings of five counts of mail fraud as part of a scheme to defraud the public of his honest services. Geddings had hid his ties to major lottery vendor Scientific Games as he sought and won a seat on the lottery commission.

His attorney, Tommy Manning of Raleigh, entered what is known as an Alford plea in court, said Wake Assistant District Attorney David Sherlin. An Alford plea allows defendants to maintain innocence but to nonetheless plead guilty because they see no other favorable alternative. Geddings has appealed his federal sentence.