Story highlights Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2014

He received money and loans from Jonnie R. Williams, the CEO Star Scientific, who was seeking state support in a bid to get FDA approval for a dietary supplement his company was developing called Anatabloc

Washington (CNN) The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear an appeal from former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, once a rising star in Republican politics, who was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2014.

It is unclear yet if the court will hear the case this term or next. McDonnell was sentenced to two years in prison but last August the Supreme Court granted an emergency motion allowing him to stay out of jail while the justices considered whether to take up the case.

"I am very grateful to the U.S. Supreme Court for its decision today to hear my case," McDonnell said in a statement Friday. "I am innocent of these crimes and ask the Court to reverse these convictions. I maintain my profound confidence in God's grace to sustain me and my family, and thank my friends and supporters across the country for their faithfulness over these past three years."

The case essentially centers around the question of just what constitutes the scope of an "official action" under federal corruption law. In 2014, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia convicted him of 11 counts finding that he violated the law when he received money and loans from Jonnie R. Williams, the CEO of a Virginia based company called Star Scientic, in exchange for official acts. Williams was seeking state support in a bid to get FDA approval for a dietary supplement his company was developing called Anatabloc.

"In 2011 and 2012," Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli wrote in Court briefs, "while petitioner was the Governor of Virginia, he and his wife Maureen McDonnell solicited and secretly accepted more than $175,000 in money and luxury goods from Jonnie Williams." The funds included loans, deluxe shopping trips, golf outings and a Rolex watch.

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