Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort’s sentencing date in March has been pushed back a week.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was originally slated to sentence Manafort on March 5 for two conspiracy counts, but on Monday the sentencing was rescheduled to March 13. It is unclear why the hearing was postponed.
The delay came after Jackson held a hearing in a sealed Washington, D.C., courtroom on Monday regarding the allegation that Manafort lied to investigators and therefore breached his plea deal which stipulated he must cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Manafort’s team claims he did not lie but rather exhibited a “lack of consistency” when he met with federal investigators 12 times since he accepted the plea deal in September.
According to Bloomberg, the sealed hearing Monday lasted more than four hours, and a redacted transcript will be provided to the public.
Another sealed hearing is set for Wednesday, and Jackson’s assessment of whether Manafort violated his plea deal could impact how long a prison sentence he receives. Manafort is facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.
Mueller’s team first accused Manafort, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiracy against the U.S., of lying to investigators in November. In September, he pleaded guilty in a second trial in Washington to two counts of conspiracy.
Manafort was first convicted in August on eight counts of bank and tax fraud by a jury in Virginia. Sentencing for that case is scheduled for Feb. 8 in Alexandria, Va.
Manafort has been jailed in Alexandria since June due to allegations of witness tampering.
