Paul Manafort should be sentenced to up to 24 years in prison, Mueller says

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/15/paul-manafort-sentencing-mueller-trump-russia

Version 0 of 4.

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, should be sentenced to up to 24 years in prison, the special counsel Robert Mueller said on Friday.

Lawyers for the special counsel recommended Manafort should face 235 to 292 months, or between 19 and a half and 24 and a half years in prison.

The sentence was recommended by Mueller for Manafort’s convictions in Virginia last year for financial crimes that the veteran political consultant began committing before he joined Trump’s campaign in 2016.

“Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars,” Mueller’s team said in a court filing released on Friday evening. “The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.”

Federal judge finds Manafort lied to Mueller

A jury found Manafort guilty in August on eight counts of tax fraud, bank fraud and a foreign bank account. They could not reach a verdict on 10 other charges.

Manafort signed a plea deal to avoid a second trial on other charges in Washington DC, but the deal was scrapped by Mueller after Manafort continued to lie. Manafort faces sentencing for crimes he admitted in that case next month.

Mueller is investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election, with intelligence agencies concluded was aimed at helping Trump. Prosecutors from Mueller’s team have said Manafort’s interactions in 2016 with Konstantin Kilimnik, an alleged Russian intelligence operative, are a central focus of their inquiries.

Manafort, 69, has been in jail since June last year, when he and Kilimnik were charged with witness tampering while Manafort awaited his trial in Virginia.