Regarding 47 months in prison in the Virginia case, Paul Manafort faces a second sentence in the DC case



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Paul Manafort is expected to be sentenced Wednesday morning in the District of Columbia, marking the likely conclusion of the legal battle that lasted a year and a half against the former president of the Trump campaign.

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The federal judge in the D.C. de Manafort case could sentence him to up to 10 years in prison for crimes related to unregistered foreign lobbying and falsification of witnesses, unrelated to his work on the Trump campaign.

Manafort was sentenced separately by Judge T.S. Ellis in the Eastern District of Virginia to nearly four years in prison last week on charges of bank and tax fraud.

Manafort's financial charges relate to criminal activities that occurred between 2006 and 2015, although the witness tampering allegation relates to contacts he made in 2017 after his indictment.

Prosecutors said in the documents that Manafort's sentence should reflect the "seriousness of his conduct". The defense team, however, argued that Manafort should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment well below the maximum provided by law.

"This case does not involve murders, drug cartels, organized crime, the Madoff Ponzi scheme or the collapse of Enron," said Manafort's team of lawyers in a memorandum on the sentence. "Mr. Manafort does not dispute his guilt, but these factors do not warrant a substantial period of imprisonment in this case."

PHOTO: Kevin Downing and Thomas Zehnle, defense lawyers for former Donald Trump campaign director Paul Manafort, leave the Federal District Court after a state court hearing in Washington on December 11, 2018.Erik S. Lesser / EPA via Shutterstock, FILE
Kevin Downing and Thomas Zehnle, defense lawyers for former Donald Trump campaign director Paul Manafort, leave the Federal District Court after a state court hearing in Washington on December 11, 2018.

Manafort's lawyers also cited his significant health issues as a factor in reducing the sentence.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson will also determine Wednesday whether her sentence in court will be concurrent with the one inflicted on Manafort last week in Virginia.

Manafort's chief attorney, Kevin Downing, asked Judge Ellis last week that he could declare that his sentence for Manafort would be concurrent with the one Manafort should receive Wednesday in Washington, but Ellis said that He believed that this decision would be entirely the responsibility of Judge Jackson. .

"It's hers," Ellis said, referring to Jackson. "But if you find that I'm wrong, that I have that discretion, you can, and it will be after she's served her sentence, then you can come back."

Manafort pleaded guilty to two counts for which he was sentenced Wednesday as part of a plea agreement that required his full cooperation with the investigators of the special councils. But his conviction was delayed as teams of jurists quarreled over whether Manafort had lied to FBI agents and violated his plea agreement.

Prosecutors first claimed in November that Manafort had lied on several key topics during his interviews with investigators, including lies about his contacts with Konstantin Kilimnik, a businessman with links to services. Russian intelligence, accused of falsifying witnesses alongside Manafort.

Manafort's lawyers claimed that he had not lied.

Jackson ruled in mid-February after two in camera hearings that Manafort had lied and breached the plea agreement, thus relieving the special counsel of any obligation to recommend a reduced sentence for Manafort.

Wednesday's special council will probably not make any recommendation for a lax sentence. During the condemnation of Manafort in Virginia, the special counsel argued that Manafort received credit for accepting responsibility or cooperating with investigators.

"Mr. Manafort has vigorously defended the facts and his guilt, and he has not accepted the responsibility of this court for these crimes," special prosecutor Greg Andres said last week.

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