Manafort Gets Jail Time in First of Two Sentencing Hearings

  |  
Mar 7, 2019

President Donald J. Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced in federal court Thursday for financial crimes unrelated to his service on the Trump campaign.

According to CNBC, Manafort received a sentence of 47 months, just under four years, in prison. Prosecutors had argued for 19-24 years – significantly higher than what Judge T.S. Ellis ultimately decided upon.

The sentence includes time served, and Manafort expected to serve only 38 more months. He was also order to pay $50,000 fine, the minimum on this case, despite prosecutors recommendation of the maximum $24 million fine.

The pretext for the criminal investigation into Manafort’s finances was Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russian “collusion” investigation into the Trump campaign. As the probe wraps up, Mueller has found no such collusion, but has indicted several Trump associates for unrelated crimes or process crimes, like perjury.

“He has lived an otherwise blameless life,” Ellis said of Manafort.

“Manafort had been convicted in the Virginia court last summer on eight counts of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to file a foreign bank account report. The charges mostly pertained to Manafort’s past work for Ukraine’s Russia-backed president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych,” the CNBC report said.

Manafort reportedly appeared for sentencing in a green jumpsuit and wheelchair. His recent health problems have been previously reported.

Next week, Manafort will be sentenced for convictions on foreign lobbying and witness tampering charges in a separate case in Washington, D.C.

Follow Peter D’Abrosca on Twitter: @pdabrosca

Like Peter D’Abrosca on Facebook: facebook.com/peterdabrosca