Manafort gets 47 months’ jail
Trump’s ex-lawyer’s prison sentence much shorter than in guidelines
ALEXANDRIA: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for tax and bank fraud related to his work advising Ukrainian politicians, much less than what was called for under sentencing guidelines.
Manafort, sitting in a wheelchair as he deals with complications from gout, had no visible reaction as he heard the 47-month sentence.
While it was the longest sentence to date to come from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, it could have been worse for Manafort.
Sentencing guidelines called for a 20-year-term, effectively a lifetime sentence for the 69-year-old.
Manafort has been jailed since June, so he will receive credit for the nine months already served.
He still faces the possibility of more time from a separate case in the District of Columbia, where he pleaded guilty to charges related to illegal lobbying.
Before Judge T.S. Ellis III imposed the sentence, Manafort said: “saying I feel humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement.”
Manafort steered Donald Trump’s election efforts during the crucial months of the 2016 campaign as Russia sought to meddle in the election through hacking of Democratic email accounts.
Manafort was convicted on eight counts last year, guilty of hiding from the IRS millions of dollars he earned from his work in Ukraine.
Manafort’s lawyers argued that their client had engaged in a routine tax evasion case, and cited numerous past sentences were defendants hid millions and served less than a year in prison.
Prosecutors said Manafort’s conduct was egregious, but Ellis agreed more with defece attorneys.
“These guidelines are quite high,” Ellis said.