Paul Manafort to be sentenced in Virginia in February

Paul Manafort was back in federal court on Friday in the eastern district of Virginia, where Judge T. Ellis ordered a sentencing date for Feb. 8 at 9am.

Manafort, to whom the privilege of wearing a suit was denied to the audience of today, wore his green jumpsuit bearing the inscription "Alexandria Inmate" in the back, with permission from the Alexandria Detention Center. To the surprise of the spectators, Manafort was pushed in and out of the wheelchair field.

His lawyers told the judge that they were eager to speed up the sentencing process, citing the detention of Manafort as the reason for the "significant problems" related to his health. He wore a white sock on his right foot and a shoe on the left.

Before the former president of the Trump campaign, he was in the eastern district of Virginia. An annulment board was declared on the ten other charges brought by the special counsel who, as part of the plea agreement, said he would not retry Manafort and refer them back to sentencing. in exchange for his cooperation.

On Friday, Justice Ellis ordered that the pending charges be dismissed. "I will remove the dead ends without prejudice," he said.

Manafort is cooperating with the government and prosecutors said in court today that they did not know when that would be over. Cooperation with the current investigation could mean a lighter sentence for Manafort, depending on whether or not the government considers that "it has provided substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person".

However, it is something the special advocate has not done in the past. For example, Richard Pinedo collaborated in the Mueller investigation, which resulted in the indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities in February 2018, without receiving a recommendation for a reduced sentence, contrary to what his lawyer had planned.

Before the trial, the government had estimated that Manafort would be sentenced to eight to ten years' imprisonment, based solely on charges of tax evasion in Virginia. Prosecutors, however, did not report on Friday whether this estimate was still valid and, ultimately, the sentencing decision rested with the court.

Manafort will be sentenced both in DC, where he will plead guilty to two counts, and in Virginia, where he will be convicted on eight counts. The lawyers of both parties agreed to recommend to the courts to allow the sentences of certain charges to be executed simultaneously when they deal with similar behavior.

Government prosecutors had argued that the court should postpone the sentence until they determined that Manafort had met the requirements of his cooperation set out in the plea agreement. However, Justice Ellis maintained that this case would not be treated differently from others before him. "I do not prolong the sentence in such circumstances," he said.

Prior to his conviction in February, Manafort will participate in what is known as a pre-trial report, which will take into account certain characteristics such as his family, work experience and criminal background. This report will help recommend a range of guidelines so that Justice Ellis can determine what sentence to impose.