Manafort's sentence in Virginia is set for March 8

On Thursday, a federal judge ordered that Paul Manafort be sentenced on March 8 to charges of financial embezzlement in Virginia. This is one of two hearings that will take place next month and could send the former president of the Trump campaign to jail for the rest of his life.

Judge at US District Court TS In an order of one page, Ellis III outlined the 69-year-old Manafort's sentencing plan, which a northern Virginia jury found guilty, last summer, eight counts of bank and tax fraud.

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Special advocates Robert Mueller have filed suit against Manafort and told Ellis last Friday that the federal guidelines called for Manafort to be sentenced to a term of up to 24 and a half years. imprisonment in the Virginia case.

Manafort also expects the date of sentencing on March 13 in another case, headed by Mueller in Washington, where he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and has since been prosecuted for lying to federal prosecutors and the grand jury during his interviews. cooperation. Mueller's office is to submit to Judge Amy Berman Jackson, District Court Judge, a sentencing memo recommending that Manafort be jailed in this case by Friday.

In Virginia, Ellis had scheduled Manafort's sentence for the beginning of February, but the hearing was postponed until the lawyers settled a dispute over the cooperation testimony of the long-time GOP operator. Jackson ruled last week that Manafort had deliberately lied on several important topics, canceling the plea agreement and allowing Mueller to suggest a harsher sentence.

Both judges will likely have a say in how Manafort is serving his prison sentence in both D.C. and Virginia. In the plea agreement, Mueller had agreed to recommend to Manafort that he serve his sentence at the same time as his sentence in Virginia. But with Jackson's decision last week, the special council is now free to suggest to Manafort to enforce his sentences consecutively.

Manafort could be spared from prison if he got a presidential pardon, even though it would be a controversial decision, with congressional Democrats already vowing to investigate any leniency measure related to the survey conducted in Russia. President Donald Trump said last November that he would "not withdraw the issue," said President Donald Trump.