SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The stunning downward spiral of Michael Madigan’s political career ended Friday with a 7 1/2-year prison sentence and a $2.5 million fine for the former Illinois House speaker and the longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history after he was convicted of trading legislation for the enrichment of his friends and allies.

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey sentenced the 83-year-old in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Nicknamed the “Velvet Hammer” for his quiet but hard-nosed style, Madigan was convicted in February on 10 of 23 counts in a remarkable corruption trial that lasted four months. The case churned through 60 witnesses and mountains of documents, photographs and taped conversations.

Federal prosecutors sought a 12 1/2-year prison term. Madigan’s attorneys wanted five years’ probation, saying he is a good man who tried to do right by taxpayers and needs to be home to care for his ailing wife, Shirley, who submitted a videotaped statement to the court requesting her husband be able to come home.

But Blakey noted that federal sentencing guidelines allowed for a term of 105 years based on findings in evidence — notably that Madigan committed perjury when he took the stand in his own defense. Blakey was particularly piqued over what he called “a nauseating display of perjury and evasion.”