The McDonnells, who were convicted in 2014, were accused of intervening with state officials on Williams's behalf in exchange for $177,000 in loans, vacations and luxury goods. The former governor was sentenced to two years in prison; His wife, Maureen, received a year and a day. The ex-governor's conviction was upheld by a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit; his wife's appeal has been put on hold. The Justice Department argued that there was nothing about the conviction of McDonnell, 61, a onetime rising star in the Republican Party who finished his term in disgrace, that warranted the high court's attention.