A US judge has on Thursday, sentenced the United States President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort to less than four-year imprisonment over the charges of financial crimes which was unleashed during special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia meddling in 2016 US presidential election.
According to Reuters news reports, during the hearing of the case in Virginia’s Alexandria, US district judge T.S. Ellis has imposed 47-month sentence on Manafort.
Manafort has been convicted last year by a jury of five counts of tax fraud, one count of unable to disclose international bank accounts and two counts of banks fraud.
Ellis disregarded federal sentencing guidelines cited by prosecutors that called for 19-1/2 to 24 years in prison. Ellis has ordered Manafort to pay $50,000 as a fine and restitution of some $24 million.
Ellis said, “Clearly the guidelines were way out of whack on this.” He also said Manafort “is not before the court for any allegations that he, or anyone at his direction, collided with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election”.
However, the prison sentence was less than what was recommended by Manafort’s lawyer of 4-1/4 to 5-1/4 years.
Manafort’s lawyer Thomas Zehnle said, “These are serious crimes, we understand that. Tax evasion is by no means jaywalking. But it’s not narcotics trafficking.”
Experts also expressed surprise over the ruling. Former federal prosecutor David Weinstein said, “This is a tremendous defeat for the special counsel’s office.”
The judge told Manafort: “I was surprised I did not hear you express regret for engaging in wrongful conduct.”
During the trial, Ellis told prosecutors: “It isn’t a crime to have a lot of money and be profligate in your spending.”
Another Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing said, “There’s absolutely no evidence that Paul Manafort was involved with any collusion with any government official from Russia.”