The first of two prison sentences for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort will be handed down in an Alexandria, Va., courtroom Thursday.
Judge T.S. Ellis will decide Manafort’s prison sentence, which could be 20 years or more — meaning that the 69 year-old faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars.
On Aug. 21, 2018, Manafort was found guilty of five tax fraud charges, two bank fraud charges, and one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts, brought against him by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Manafort’s attorneys have accused Mueller of “attempting to vilify Mr. Manafort as a lifelong felon and irredeemable felon” and that prosecutors have gone “beyond the pale and grossly overstated the facts before the Court.” They say that Mueller’s charges have “devastated him personally, professionally, and financially” and have asked the court to “impose a sentence significantly below the advisory guidelines.”
But in the days leading up to the sentencing, Mueller’s office argued against leniency, saying that Manafort has shown a “lack of remorse” and that his attorney’s recent filings “undermine any reduction for acceptance of responsibility.” Mueller’s office further argued that Manafort is shirking responsibility, saying that Manafort “blames everyone from the Special Counsel’s Office to his Ukrainian clients for his own criminal choices.”
Manafort’s attorneys have argued that the charges never would have been brought against him if not for his connection to President Trump, and Ellis seemed sympathetic to the argument at times, telling prosecutors he thinks that they are after information that “would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment.”
But Mueller’s office has pushed back on the charge, noting that Manafort faced criminal investigations even before his appointment as special counsel.
Manafort joined the Trump campaign in March 2016, in the midst of Trump’s primary battle against Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others to secure delegates for the upcoming Republican convention in Cleveland in July 2016. He also helped quickly defeat efforts on the floor of the convention to open it up to a possible challenge to Trump. Manafort left the Trump campaign in August 2016, before Trump’s win. He was arrested and indicted in Mueller’s investigation the following fall.
It was during his time on the Trump campaign that Manafort’s foreign lobbying work, especially work associated with Russia-linked clients in Ukraine, came under renewed scrutiny. He retroactively registered himself under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in 2017.
During the campaign, Manafort is alleged to have shared polling data with and discussed a Ukrainian peace plan with Konstantin Kilimnik, a political consultant in Ukraine with alleged ties to Russian intelligence. But Manafort’s guilty verdict does not relate directly to alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Mueller’s office was harsh when describing their stance on Manafort’s sentencing. Prosecutors said that he “stands convicted of serious crimes” and that “Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law.”
The special counsel’s office claimed that Manafort’s financial crimes included more than $16 million in unreported income, $6 million in unpaid federal taxes, and $55 million hidden in foreign bank accounts.
Manafort also pleaded guilty in a separate case in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 14, 2018 to two counts of conspiracy: Committing crimes against the United States and obstructing justice. Mueller’s office later alleged that Manafort broke his plea agreement — and the court agreed.
Next week, on top of Thursday’s Virginia sentence, Judge Amy Berman Jackson will decide what sentence Manafort will receive in the D.C. case. That could be another 20 years or more. Jackson will then have to decide whether Manafort is allowed to serve his two potentially lengthy sentences concurrently, or one after the other.
[Opinion: In the Manafort case’s ‘Exhibit 233,’ a page count has never been so fascinating]
