NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm was expected to plead guilty to a federal tax evasion charge Tuesday, people familiar with the plea negotiations said, but it was unclear what would become of his congressional career.

Grimm was due in a Brooklyn federal court Tuesday on the tax fraud case, which concerns his investment in a health-food eatery.

The two people familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Monday that Grimm planned to plead guilty to a single count of aiding in the filing of a false tax return, with hopes of avoiding prison time. The Staten Island Republican’s trial was due to start next month.

Lawyers for Grimm and federal prosecutors declined to comment on a pending plea deal. There was no immediate response to a phone message left at Grimm’s office.

Grimm, who’s free on $400,000 bond, won re-election in November while fighting the charges. It was unclear whether he would be allowed to keep his seat after his expected plea.

Asked at an October debate whether he would resign if found guilty, he responded, “Certainly, if I was not able to serve, then of course I would step aside.”

The tax fraud began in 2007 after Grimm retired from the FBI and began investing in a small Manhattan restaurant called Healthalicious, according to an indictment. It accused him of underreporting more than $1 million in wages and receipts to evade payroll, income and sales taxes, partly by paying immigrant workers, some of them in the country illegally, in cash.

The case stemmed from an investigation of Grimm’s campaign financing. He was never charged with any offense related to his campaign, but a woman romantically linked to him pleaded guilty in September to lining up straw donors for his 2010 run.

Grimm, 44, made headlines in January after telling a local cable TV news station reporter he wanted to throw the journalist off a balcony in the Capitol for asking about the campaign finance inquiry.