Manafort Sentenced To 47 Months In Prison, Federal Guidelines Call For 19-24 Years

Paul Manafort

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, has been sentenced to 47 months in prison for five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account.

Federal guidelines called for 19-24 years.

Judge TS Ellis said he believes he gave Paul Manafort "a just sentence for that conduct."

The judge also ordered Manafort to pay at least $6 million in restitution and a $50,000 criminal fee.

Additionally, Judge Ellis gave Manafort for nine months served already. So his sentence will begin at a little more than 3 years.

It's important to note that Manafort will receive a second sentence next week from a different federal judge for the two crimes he pleaded guilty to last year.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson of United States District Court for the District of Columbia will sentence him for the two conspiracy charges, which each carry a maximum penalty of five years. The sentences can run consecutively or concurrently. We'll see what Judge Jackson decides.

People are stunned at the excessively short sentence.

"We all remember what we learn about our legal system in America. It does not operate with equal force for everyone. And Paul Manafort got the special, clubby, Washington, elite, friendly treatment for an ind. with stacks and stacks of crimes." @arimelber on Manafort's sentencing pic.twitter.com/qyBpj3MJ0C

— Hardball (@hardball) March 8, 2019

A travesty. The guidelines called for 19-24 years. He gets less than 4. Judge Berman should impose a consecutive sentence in the DC case and the government should appeal this sentence, which must be authorized by the AG or SG. https://t.co/caS3xoGuqA

— Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) March 8, 2019

"To be a rich, white man in America, you get a different kind of justice." @LawProfButler on Paul Manafort's 47 month sentence. #Hardball pic.twitter.com/56CVD1sTiq

— Hardball (@hardball) March 8, 2019

Paul Manafort, who received 47 months in prison, is one of 7 people convicted to date in the special counsel probe. https://t.co/evJKktLqmR

— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 8, 2019

Manafort was sentenced to less than a woman who voted while on probation without knowing she wasn’t allowed to. She was sentenced to 5 years. https://t.co/oDyhH8K0bJ

— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) March 8, 2019

I would expect on Manafort, after this 47 month sentence in VA, that the special counsel will seek, and Judge Amy Berman Jackson will impose, a few years’ consecutive time in the DC case.

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) March 8, 2019

I guess we can conclude from this that if Manafort *had* expressed regret and *hadn't* lied to every party in the case he'd have gotten a cake and cab fare

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 8, 2019