Manafort will be sentenced in February in a case of financial fraud

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal judge on Friday ordered Paul Manafort, the former president of President Trump's campaign, to be sentenced in February for his financial fraud crimes for which he was convicted in August.

The judge also rejected 10 outstanding charges that were impeached by the jury after the trial in the US District Court in Alexandria.

Mr. Manafort, aged 69, was driven into the Alexandria hearing room in a wheelchair, his right foot wrapped in a bandage. A person familiar with his condition, who requested anonymity, stated that he was suffering from inflammation related to his diet at the Alexandria Detention Center.

Mr. Manafort has been working with the Special Council Office, Robert S. Mueller III, over the last month as part of an advocacy agreement that includes separate criminal charges in Washington and ongoing fraud charges in Virginia.

In August, the jury in Alexandria declared him guilty of eight counts of bank fraud, tax evasion and non-disclosure of a foreign bank account. But the jury was found deadlocked on another ten counts of financial fraud.

United States District Judge TS Ellis III, who was presiding over this lawsuit, initiated Friday's hearing by stating that the conviction of Mr. Manafort in Virginia should not be postponed at a later date simply because he is cooperating with him. investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The judge scheduled Mr. Manafort's sentence for February 8th.

If Mr. Manafort continues to assist prosecutors, the judge can say that his cooperation can always be taken into account. If warranted, prosecutors can also take steps to ease his sentence later, he said.

"I do not want to treat this case differently from others," he said.

Faced with a second trial in Washington for crimes ranging from obstruction of justice to money laundering, Mr. Manafort agreed to plead guilty to two conspiracy charges last month.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed that the 10 counts in Virginia should be dismissed, as well as the other charges in the Washington case. Nevertheless, Mr. Manafort should be sentenced to a long prison term.

Collaborators said Mr. Manafort was eager to be sentenced because he expects better conditions of detention than in federal prison compared to Alexandria prison, where he is currently detained.

"There are significant issues with his health right now," his lawyer Kevin Downing told Justice Ellis. "This is largely related to the conditions of his imprisonment."