Last week, in Philadelphia, a U.S. judge sentenced Sean O'Neill, who came to the US in the early 1980s, to 18 months in prison after he was found guilty of tax, immigration and firearm charges.
Mr O'Neill, who built a construction business that made him a millionaire, originally faced up to 146 years in jail.
More than 90 people from the Philadelphia area and Northern Ireland wrote letters to Judge Yohn asking him to go easy on Mr. O'Neill at sentencing. They included Roman Catholic priests and figures from the civil-rights movement in Northern Ireland, plus family members in and near Mr. O'Neill's hometown of Coalisland, who pointed to what they consider his generosity and hard work.


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