Paul Manafort, political consultant and former election campaign manager for US President Donald Trump, has been sentenced to just shy of four years in prison for financial crimes. He is expected to serve only 38 more months because of time already spent behind bars. Manafort was also ordered to pay a $50,000 fine, ONA reports quoting sputniknews.
Judge T.S. Ellis III of the United States District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled that the 70-year-old Manafort, who once served as campaign chairman of Trump's 2016 presidential election campaign, will serve only a tiny fraction of the time in prison prosecutors sought.
During comments prior to his sentencing, Manafort told the court that his life is "professionally and financially in shambles."
"To say I have been humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement," he continued.
"I appreciate the fairness" of this court during the proceedings, Manafort reportedly told Ellis, speaking from a wheelchair. "You bent over backwards… Thank you for a fair trial… I ask you to be compassionate."
The judge consented, noting that the recommended sentence of 19-24 years was, in his view, "excessive.
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