The federal criminal cases against President Trump ’s former campaign chairman ended Wednesday with the second of two dramatic sentencing hearings in the past week.…
The federal criminal cases against President Trump ’s former campaign chairman ended Wednesday with the second of two dramatic sentencing hearings in the past week.
Paul Manafort, who turns 70 on April 1, was sentenced to a total of 7 1/2 years in prison for crimes uncovered during special counsel Robert Mueller ’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and links between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
Here’s what you need to know about his punishment.
How much time he will serve
The federal judge presiding over the criminal trial in Virginia sentenced Manafort to 47 months in prison last week for his conviction on eight criminal charges, far less than the 19 1/2 to 24 years recommended under federal guidelines.
In that sentence, Manafort got 24 months for each of the five counts of filing false income tax returns, 30 months for one count of failing to report foreign bank accounts and 47 months for each of the two counts of bank fraud.
But Jude T. S. Ellis III, a Reagan appointee, ordered those terms to run concurrently. Had he made them consecutive sentences, Manafort would likely be spending much more time behind bars. Ellis also cut nine months off for time already served.
On Wednesday, a federal district court judge in Washington added 43 months to Manafort’s prison stay. Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, sentenced Manafort to 60 months for one count of conspiracy against the United States, which included conspiracy to launder money, commit tax fraud, lie to the Department of Justice, fail to file foreign bank accounts and fail to register as a foreign lobbyist.
But since Jackson allowed that time to run concurrently with the sentence Manafort received for his Virginia conviction on federal tax fraud and failing to file foreign bank accounts, he will only spend 30 additional months in prison for that charge.
Jackson then gave Manafort another 13 months in prison for one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses. She ordered that time to be served consecutively to his other sentence.
Between the two cases, Manafort was given 81 months in prison. He will serve out that time at a medium security federal prison in Cumberland, Md.
On top of his sentence he was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and $24 million in restitution.
Possibility for early release
Manafort could get 10 months off his sentence for good behavior, but he is not eligible for parole. Federal prisoners serving more than a year can get up to 54 days off their sentence annually if they display “exemplary compliance with institutional disciplinary regulations.
