Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort sentenced to more than 3 1/2 additional years in prison
Judge Amy Berman Jackson has handed down her sentence to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. She sentenced him to 73 months in prison, and 30 months of the sentence she imposed will overlap with his Virginia sentence of just under four years. With the 47-month sentence in the Virginia case, Manafort’s total sentence is 90 months, or 7.5 years.
Manafort apologized in court, as he faced his sentencing in the District of Columbia on two counts — conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice on Wednesday.
“I want to say to you now that I am sorry for what I have done,” Manafort said.”While I cannot undo the past, I can assure that the future will be very different.”
His attorney, Kevin Downing, also argued that the media attention had resulted in had resulted a “very harsh process” for his client, different from the treatment another defendant facing the same charges might receive from the public and the press. Jackson prompted him to state that he doesn’t believe prosecutors were motivated by politics.
The prosecution arguing for a tough sentence, that Manafort’s crimes, conducted over a decade and bringing him wealth that he hid in 30 offshore accounts in three countries, showed that he “sought to undermine, not promote, American ideals.”
Each count against him carries a maximum of five years.
In Virginia last week, Manafort was sentenced to 47 months for tax and bank fraud, a significantly shorter sentence than prosecutors had sought.
Manafort pleaded guilty to the two conspiracy counts in the District in September in order to avoid a second trial and was required to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But in November, the government accused Manafort of violating the plea agreement in November by lying to the FBI, a federal grand jury and the special counsel. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed and ruled that Manafort had voided the deal.
