The Latest: Sentencing hearing begins for Paul Manafort
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Latest on Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort (all times local):
9:50 p.m.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has 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 is the longest sentence to date to come from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, it could have been much 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 he has already served.
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6:59 p.m.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 47 months in prison for tax and bank fraud related to his work advising Ukrainian politicians.
Judge T.S. Ellis III imposed the sentence Thursday, capping the only jury trial following indictments stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
A jury last year convicted Manafort on eight counts, concluding that he hid from the Internal Revenue Service millions of dollars he earned from his work in Ukraine.
Federal sentencing guidelines had called for a term of roughly 20 years, but few observers had expected he would receive a sentence that long.
Manafort still faces sentencing in the District of Columbia, where he pleaded guilty in a separate case connected to illegal lobbying.
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6:35 p.m.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is asking a federal judge for compassion as he awaits sentencing on tax and bank fraud charges.
Manafort spoke to the judge while seated in a wheelchair in an Alexandria, Virginia, courtroom. He says that “saying I feel humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement.”
He says he has had time to reflect on his actions during months of solitary confinement and does not recognize the person he has been made out to be in the media. He says he hopes to have an opportunity “to show the world who I know I really am.”
Manafort was prosecuted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but this case isn’t related to Donald Trump’s campaign. It stems from his overseas work advising politicians in Ukraine.
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4:10 p.m.
The sentencing hearing for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has begun in Virginia with the 69-year-old entering the courtroom in a wheelchair.
A jury in Alexandria convicted Manafort last year on eight counts of tax and bank fraud related to his overseas work advising politicians in Ukraine.
Federal sentencing guidelines call for a term of roughly 20 years, though few observers expect Manafort to receive a sentence that long.
Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys offered specific recommendations for a length of sentence, but defense attorneys are hoping for a term significantly less than 20 years.
Manafort also still faces sentencing in the District of Columbia in a separate case related to illegal lobbying.
In court papers, defense lawyers say Manafort is suffering from gout and poor health.
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9 a.m.
Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort could be set to receive a decades-long prison sentence for tax and bank fraud.
The 69-year-old Manafort was convicted last year of hiding from the IRS millions of dollars he earned from his work advising Ukrainian politicians.
Manafort is scheduled to appear Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, where he could get 20 years under federal guidelines but his lawyers have sought a shorter sentence.
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