ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is being sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
At a hearing yesterday in Virginia, Manafort gave a statement from a wheelchair and pleaded Judge T.S. Ellis for compassion as the last two years have “been the most difficult years” for him and his family. Manafort faced between 19-and-a-half to 24 years behind bars per federal guidelines, but Ellis called that range “excessive.”
Judge Ellis also noted that Manafort had no criminal history and has “otherwise lived a blameless life.” Manafort had no noticeable reaction upon hearing his sentencing of 47-months.
A $50,000 fine was imposed on Manafort and he will serve three years of supervised release after his sentence.
A federal jury convicted Manafort on eight felony counts of bank and tax fraud last August. The 69-year-old pleaded guilty to similar charges in a case in Washington, DC and will be sentenced next week.
None of the charges involved Manafort’s work on the Trump campaign in 2016, though it was originally uncovered by the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
(PHOTO: Mandal Ngen/Getty Images)
