He resigned in October 1995 after a jury convicted him of sexual assault charges related to sex with an underage campaign worker.

In 1990, Reynolds lost, but ran much closer after Savage's conduct was criticized by the House Ethics Committee in connection with a sex scandal.

Shortly before the primary, Reynolds was lightly injured when unknown gunmen fired shotguns at his vehicle while he was waiting at an intersection.

[8] Days later, Reynolds beat Savage in the Democratic primary on March 17, and easily won the general election in November.

In April 1997, Reynolds was convicted on 16 new counts of bank fraud, misusing campaign funds for personal use, and lying to FEC investigators.

[13][14][15][16] In January 2001, Reynolds was hired by Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to decrease the number of young African-Americans going to prison.

[19] The pornography charges were later dropped, but he pleaded guilty to violating immigration laws, and was deported to South Africa.

[24] Reynolds claims the majority of the income the government claimed should be filed on income tax returns was given by Elzie Higginbottom, the key witness for the trial on misdemeanor tax charges, to him in order to travel to South Africa to set up opportunities in real estate and the diamond industry.

[26][27] He was sentenced by Gettleman to six months in prison on May 10, 2018, which he began serving at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago on August 1.

[21][28] At a press conference after the sentencing, Reynolds stated he planned to move to South Africa with his daughter after his release.

[29] Released into a halfway house in November 2018, Reynolds filed a lawsuit against deposed Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe and a Chicago-area businessman for what he said was "physical and psychological torture" that took place during his 2014 detainment in Zimbabwe.