Post by Admin on Mar 13, 2019 12:50:47 GMT -4
Paul Manafort Will Now Serve Nearly 8 Years in Prison
Unless, of course, he receives a presidential pardon
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By ANDY KROLL
ALEXANDRIA, VA - MARCH 08: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort (R) leaves the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse with his wife Kathleen Manafort (L) after an arraignment hearing as a protester holds up a sign March 8, 2018 in Alexandria, Virginia. Manafort pleaded not guilty to new tax and fraud charges, brought by special counsel Robert MuellerĂs Russian interference investigation team, at the Alexandria federal court in Virginia, where he resides. A trial date has been set for July 10, 2018.
WASHINGTON â Paul Manafort told the federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., that he had âalready begun to change.â He spoke of the âpower of prayer.â Judge Amy Berman Jackson didnât buy it.
On Wednesday morning, in the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Muellerâs two-pronged prosecution of the former Trump campaign chairman and Republican uber-consultant, Judge Jackson sentenced the 69-year-old Manafort to more than six years in prison for two counts of conspiracy to violate foreign lobbying law, commit money laundering and obstruct justice. Manafort will serve some of that time concurrently with his sentence from a related case in northern Virginia. In all, he now faces up to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
The hearing was Manafortâs second sentencing in less than a week. He received a lighter-than-expected sentence of just 47 months in prison last Thursday in a Virginia court appearance in connection with a previous bank and tax fraud conviction. The Federal Probation Office had suggested a sentence of between 19 and 25 years for Manafort, but Judge T.S. Ellis III showed leniency, saying apart from his crimes, Manafort had been a âgood friendâ to others and had lived an âotherwise blameless life.â
During Wednesdayâs sentencing hearing, Andrew Weissman, a prosecutor working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, argued that Manafort had âundermined our political processâ by not disclosing his work representing Ukraine and violating FARA. âThat law got in the way of Mr. Manafort,â Weissman said. âSecrecy was integral to what Mr. Manafort wanted to do for Ukraine.â Weissman went on to say that âsomething is wrongâ with Manafortâs moral compass after he allegedly committed more crimes â witness tampering â while out on bail.
âHe engaged in crime again and again,â Weissman concluded. âHe has not learned a harsh lesson. He served to undermine, not promote, American ideals of honesty, transparency and playing by the rules.â
Last fall, after his conviction in northern Virginia, Manafort pleaded guilty in D.C. federal court rather than stand trial a second time in the second of Muellerâs two cases brought against him. As part of his plea agreement, Manafort agreed to âfully, truthfully, completely and forthrightlyâ cooperate with Muellerâs investigation.
But the deal soon broke down. A few months later, Muellerâs team alleged that Manafort had breached his plea deal by misleading FBI agents and the Special Counselâs office âon a variety of subject matters.â Manafortâs lawyers contested these claims, but Judge Jackson agreed with the Special Counsel on three of the five alleged instances of Manafort lying to federal investigators. Those lies concerned a payment from Manafortâs consulting firm to an unnamed law firm; an intentional lie Manafort told law enforcement about a separate DOJ investigation (it remains unclear what that probe is about); and Manafort deliberately lying about âhis interactions and communicationsâ with Konstantin Kilimnik, who assisted Manafort during his time working in Ukrainian politics.
Kilimnik and his interactions with Manafort appear to be a key piece of the Special Counselâs investigation. In a hearing last month, Weissman explained that Manafortâs deception about his communications with Kilimnik âgoes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counselâs office is investigating.â
At the sentencing hearing, Kevin Downing, one of Manafortâs lawyers, sought to minimize the seriousness of Manafortâs failure to register under FARA. Downing also said the âmedia frenzyâ around the case had created a âharsh processâ for Manafort. âEverybodyâs going nuts over this,â he said.
Addressing the courtroom, Manafort apologized for his crimes and asked for leniency. âI can see that I have behaved in ways that did not always support my personal code of values,â he said. Pointing out that he turns 70 in a few weeks, he said to Judge Jackson: âPlease let me and my wife be together.â
Judge Jackson, in her remarks, showed little sympathy for Manafort. She said it was âhard to overstateâ the number of lies he had told. She noted Manafortâs âongoing contempt for and the belief that he had the right to manipulateâ the judicial process. âThere is no good explanation that would warrant the leniency requested,â she said. Jackson criticized Manafortâs lawyers for including in their sentencing documents that Muellerâs lawyers had found no evidence of Russian collusion in the case, saying that âThe âno collusionâ mantra is simply a non-sequitur.â