Former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort jailed for financial crimes
US President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 47 months behind bars for fraud.
Manafort was last year convicted of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.
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The charges form part of an ongoing investigation by US Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The sentencing falls well below guidance cited by prosecutors that called for between 19.5 and 24 years in prison. The judge also ordered Manafort to pay more than $24m (£18.3m) in restitution and a $50,000 fine.
Manafort, who was brought into court in a wheelchair due to an onset of gout during his imprisonment, was convicted after being accused of hiding millions of dollars he earned as a consultant in Ukraine.
However, there is no suggestion that Manafort colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.
District judge T.S. Ellis imposed the lenient sentence after taking into consideration Manafort’s “otherwise blameless” life.
“Clearly the guidelines were way out of whack on this,” Ellis said, according to Reuters.
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The judge said the nine months Manafort has already been held will be subtracted from the 47-month sentence.
Manafort faces further sentencing next week in Washington in a separate case. Trump’s former campaign chief has pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges relating to lobbying and money laundering, and could be hit with a sentence of up to 10 years.