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Ex-Trump campaign chief Manafort jailed for fraud

AFP, Alexandria
US President Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort was sentenced to nearly four years in prison by a federal judge on Thursday for tax crimes and bank fraud in the highest
profile case yet stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
Judge TS Lewis immediately came under fire from Democratic lawmakers for imposing what they described as a relatively light sentence on the 69-year-old Republican political consultant and lobbyist.
Prosecutors from the Special Counsel's office had argued for a stiff prison term for Manafort, the first target of the Mueller probe to
be convicted in a criminal trial.
Ellis said that while Manafort had committed 'very serious crimes, * he had previously led an "otherwise blameless life" and the advisory sentencing guidelines calling for 19 to 24 years behind bars were "excessive" and disproportionate to sentences for similar offenses.
"The government cannot sweep away the history of all these previous sentences," the judge said.
Manafort was convicted by a jury in August of five counts of filing false income tax returns, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to report a foreign bank account.
He is one of a half-dozen former Trump associates and senior aides charged by Mueller, who has been investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
The charges against Manafort were not connected to his role in the Trump campaign, which he headed for two months in 2016, but were related to lucrative consulting work he did for Russian-backed Ukrainian politicians from 2004 to 2014.
Prosecutors alleged that Manafort used offshore bank accounts to hide more than $55 million he earned working for the Ukrainians.
The money was used to support a lavish lifestyle which included purchases of luxury homes and cars, antique rugs, and expensive clothes, including an $ 18,500 python jacket.
His conviction was a stunning downfall for a man who also worked on the White House bids of Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and Bob Dole.
Speaking from a wheelchair and wearing a green prison jumpsuit with the words "Alexandria Inmate" on the back, Manafort told the court that his "life, professionally and personally, is in a shambles.11
"I feel the pain and shame," said Manafort, who the defense says suffers from gout.
Manafort was ordered to pay $24 million in restitution and a $50,000 fine.
Manafort still faces sentencing in a money laundering and witness tampering case in Washington next week, where the maximum penalty is 10 years and the judge has appeared more sympathetic to prosecutors.
Trump has dangled the possibility of pardons for some of those indicted by Mueller - including Manafort, whom he has praised as a "good man" who has been treated unfairly.
Besides Manafort, four other former Trump associates face charges or have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the Mueller investigation.
Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials and is awaiting sentencing.
Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen is to begin serving a three-year prison sentence on May 6 for fraud, tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and lying to Congress.
George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy advisor to theTrump campaign, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was sentenced to two weeks in prison. Another Trump advisor, Roger Stone, awaits trial.
Meanwhile, Trump's real estate group the Trump Organization was sued Thursday by Cohen for "millions of dollars" in legal fees Cohen says the company was obliged to pay.
Cohen alleges the company stopped paying his legal costs related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe and other matters "only after" he began cooperating last year in investigations that have since implicated the president in wrongdoing.
It was the latest chapter in the story of Cohen's break with his former boss. Cohen has implicated Trump and the White House in the charges of campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress that he pleaded guilty to.