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“To say I have been humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement,” Manafort told the court. (AP: Andrew Harnik)
US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 47 months in jail and ordered to pay more than $US24 million ($34.2 million) in restitution for fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.
Key points:
- Manafort hid millions of dollars earned in Ukraine from the IRS and inflated his income on bank loan applications
- The jail sentence was even lighter than that sought by defence lawyers
- Donald Trump has not ruled out granting a presidential pardon to Manafort
The 69-year-old was found guilty by a jury last August of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.
On top of the jail sentence and restitution, he was also fined $US50,000 by US District Court Judge T.S. Ellis.
Manafort hid millions of dollars he earned in Ukraine from the Internal Revenue Service and later inflated his income on bank loan applications.
While prosecutors had not recommended a specific sentence for Manafort, they cited federal sentencing guidelines that called for up to 24 years in prison.
But Judge Ellis said the sentencing guidelines were excessive and would create “an unwarranted disparity” with other cases.
But the jailtime was even less than that defence lawyers had sought, which was anywhere from four to five years.
Judge Ellis also said Manafort was “not before the court for any allegations that he, or anyone at his direction, colluded with the Russian Government to influence the 2016 election”.
Manafort faces sentencing in a separate case next Wednesday in Washington on two conspiracy charges to which he pleaded guilty last September.
While he faces a statutory maximum of 10 years, the judge in that case could potentially stack it on top of the sentence imposed on Thursday (local time) rather than allowing the sentences to run concurrently.
He initially avoided a second trial after reaching a plea agreement with the Mueller investigation, but that fell apart when prosecutors persuaded a judge that Manafort had been lying rather than co-operating.
Manafort’s life ‘in shambles’
Manafort at one point asked Judge Ellis for mercy and thanked him for conducting a fair trial.
He also talked about how the case has been difficult for himself and his family.
“To say I have been humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement,” Manafort, who opted not to testify during his trial, told the court.
He described his life as “professionally and financially in shambles”.
Mr Trump has not ruled out granting a presidential pardon to Manafort, saying in November: “I wouldn’t take it off the table”.
ABC/Wires
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