By Celestine Osemeilu, Editor
All is not well for POTUS’ camp as his second right hand man and former Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 47 months in prison for tax and bank fraud crimes.
Manafort was the first to be charged as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election.
The sentence of nearly four years in prison, handed down on Thursday, is far more lenient than the 69 year old was expected to receive; prosecutors had cited federal sentencing guidelines that called for 19 to 24 years in prison.
But District Judge TS Ellis said the sentencing guidelines were excessive and would create “an unwarranted disparity” with other cases. “Clearly the guidelines were way out of whack on this,” he added.
He sentenced Manafort to less than four years in prison and also ordered him to pay a fine of $50,000 and restitution of just over $24 million.
This will be another setback for President Donald Trump’s campaign bid for 2020.
