Humiliated and ashamed, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort is jailed for 47 months for financial fraud
- Paul Manafort was convicted in August on eight charges of tax evasion and bank fraud
- He still faces sentencing in the District of Columbia, where he pleaded guilty in a separate case connected to illegal lobbying
US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison Thursday for tax crimes and bank fraud.
It was the stiffest sentence yet given to an associate of the president in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling - but significantly lighter than many expected for the 69-year-old political consultant.
In a rebuff to Mueller’s call for stiff punishment, the judge called the official guidelines for a prison sentence of 19 to 24 years “excessive”.
But Manafort still faces sentencing in a second case in Washington next week, where the maximum penalty is 10 years and the judge has appeared more sympathetic to prosecutors.
The charges involved Manafort’s work for 10 years on behalf of Moscow-allied politicians in Ukraine, and nothing related to the 2016 election - an issue he argued in asking the court for lenience.
Manafort told the court ahead of his sentencing that his life is “professionally and financially in shambles”.