Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for tax and bank fraud, a significant reduction from sentencing guidelines that called for a 20-year term.
Paul Manafort received the surprisingly lenient sentence for crimes uncovered during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election.
The punishment was even less than the sentence recommended by Manafort’s lawyers of 4.25 to 5.25 years in prison. Prosecutors had called for 19.5 to 24 years, citing federal sentencing guidelines.
During the hearing, US District Judge TS Ellis extolled his “otherwise blameless” life in which he “earned the admiration of a number of people” and engaged in “a lot of good things”, Reuters reports.
Manafort hid millions of dollars from the US government that he earned as a consultant for Ukraine’s former pro-Russia government.
After pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster, prosecutors said, Manafort lied to banks to secure loans and maintain an opulent lifestyle with luxurious homes, designer suits and even a $15,000 (£11,500) ostrich-skin jacket.
During the hearing Manafort, brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair because of gout, asked for mercy but expressed no remorse for his actions.
Legal experts expressed surprise over the sentence which was less than half of what people who plead guilty and cooperate with the government typically get in similar cases, according to Mark Allenbaugh, a former attorney with the US Sentencing Commission. “Very shocking,” he said.
“This is a tremendous defeat for the special counsel’s office,” former federal prosecutor David Weinstein said.
The judge also ordered Manafort to pay a fine of $50,000 and restitution of just over $24 million.
The sentence prompted outrage and disbelief in many quarters. Democratic Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said: “In our current broken system, “justice” isn’t blind. It’s bought.”
Russian chess grandmaster and human rights advocate, Gary Kasporov, said he should be extradited to Ukraine for serving a “murderous and corrupt regime”.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, said: ”Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, commits bank and tax fraud and gets 47 months. A homeless man, Fate Winslow, helped sell $20 of pot and got life in prison.”
Others took a more lighthearted view of the sentence.
Ellis had faced criticism by some in the legal community for comments he made during the trial that were widely interpreted as biased against the prosecution. Ellis repeatedly interrupted prosecutors, told them to stop using the word “oligarch” to describe people associated with Manafort because it made him seem “despicable,” and objected to pictures of Manafort’s luxury items they planned to show jurors.
“It isn’t a crime to have a lot of money and be profligate in your spending,” Ellis told prosecutors during the trial.
Manafort is the only one of the 34 people and three companies charged by Mueller to have gone to trial.
Several others including former campaign aides Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen have pleaded guilty, while longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone has pleaded not guilty.
Trump, a Republican who has called Mueller’s investigation a politically motivated “witch hunt,” has not ruled out giving Manafort a presidential pardon, saying in November: “I wouldn’t take it off the table.”
“There’s absolutely no evidence that Paul Manafort was involved with any collusion with any government official from Russia,” Kevin Downing, another Manafort lawyer, said outside the courthouse.