A former South Carolina treasurer and millionaire developer convicted in a cocaine case won a reduced sentence of 10 months in prison on Friday in part for his insight about the drug scene in Charleston. Thomas Ravenel, who admitted he has used the drug since he was 18, has a chance to have his sentence trimmed even more. The judge, skeptical of prosecutors' assertions that Ravenel had significantly helped authorities, agreed to give attorneys five months to present more evidence before the former political star goes to prison. Defense attorneys had argued that the first-time offender should receive no prison time, while prosecutors agreed to a reduced sentence.

Ravenel, 45, had faced as many as 20 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine for a federal charge of conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute.

He was ordered to pay a $221,000 fine and an additional $28,000 to the state as reimbursement for the special legislative session to elect his successor.

Ravenel apologized to his family and the state during Friday's hearing at federal court in Columbia.

He told the judge he's "using this crisis as an opportunity to turn my life around. I brought embarrassment being a public official to this state. I'm going to spend the rest of my life making amends."

The Republican, who resigned about a month after he was indicted in June, has admitted purchasing cocaine from several different people and said he used the drug as often as once a week. After his indictment, he spent a month each in rehabilitation facilities in Arizona and New Mexico.

Prosecutors have not disputed that Ravenel bought the drug to share with friends and never sold it himself.

Ravenel's long history with drugs was revealed when U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. read a report from the federal investigation.

He said Ravenel had admitted he first tried cocaine in 1981. By the time he started at the state's military college The Citadel, he also has tried LSD and later experimented with Ecstasy. But the cocaine use continued, escalating in the run-up to Ravenel's election as state treasurer in November 2006, the judge read.

Family members and business colleagues testified on Ravenel's behalf, urging the judge not to give him any prison time.

"Our office desperately needs his presence," Renee Ravenel Brockinton, his sister and business partner, told the judge. "There are a large number of employees dependent on him."

Arthur Ravenel, his father and a former state senator and congressman, said before the hearing his son seemed to be doing fine, spending Thursday in Myrtle Beach looking at development sites.

Co-defendant Michael Miller was sentenced to 10 months in prison on Friday. Miller, 26, of Charleston, had pleaded guilty to two federal drug charges and admitted selling drugs to Ravenel and another man.

Miller faced up to 40 years in prison but received a reduced sentence for cooperating with authorities. His attorney said he would be credited for already serving about three months in jail.

Some of the information Ravenel provided led to the indictment of a man still on the run from federal authorities, prosecutors have said. In September, a bench warrant was issued for Pasquale Pellicoro, a Charleston-area wine expert, after he failed to show up for a court appearance on a conspiracy charge.

The Italian citizen had not been asked to surrender his passport, so he could have left the country, prosecutors have said.