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Manafort sentenced to additional 43 months in prison

Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, was sentenced in a Washington, D.C., courtroom Wednesday, March 13, to an additional 43 months in prison for conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice for attempting to tamper with witnesses.

Paul Manafort leaving the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse following a previous court appearance in 2018.

Paul Manafort leaving the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse following a previous court appearance in 2018.

Manafort had accepted a plea deal in the case in September 2018, admitting to money laundering, tax fraud and illegal foreign lobbying connected to his years working for Ukrainian politicians. Manafort also admitted lying to investigators and under oath before a grand jury about his contact with a Russian associate during the 2016 campaign, breaking the plea agreement.

Last week, he was sentenced in Virginia to 47 months in prison for financial fraud convictions. In D.C., Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Manafort to 73 months, with 30 months to be served concurrently with his Virginia sentence. Manafort, who turns 70 next month, will serve seven-and-a-half years in prison minus the almost nine months he has already been incarcerated. Manafort also was ordered to pay $24.8 million in restitution and a $50,000 fine in the Virginia case. This was the first case from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to go to trial.

President Trump could pardon Manafort for his federal crimes, thus sparing him from serving both sentences. However, immediately after the sentence Wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., charged Manafort with 16 counts related to mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records. The most serious charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in state prison and would not be eligible for a presidential pardon.

Wednesday, Manafort told the court “I am sorry for what I’ve done.  Let me be very clear, I accept the responsibility for the acts that caused me to be here today,” he said.

Jackson said she believed Manafort was sincere about his concern for his family, but also stated “It is hard to overstate the number of lies and the amount of fraud and the extraordinary amount of money involved.” She also told Manafort that “Saying ‘I’m sorry I got caught’ is not an inspiring plea for leniency.”

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