Sentencing Thursday 3/8/19 at 3:30pm EST
Paul Manafort's day of reckoning has finally arrived.
Months after Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Manafort had violated his plea agreement with federal prosecutors by allegedly lying about a promise to share campaign info with a purported Russian operative. For his crimes, Mueller insisted that Manafort be sentenced as soon as possible, and after a brief delay, US District Judge T.S. Ellis is expected to hand down Manafort's sentence on Thursday, possibly delivering what could be an effective life sentence for the former Trump campaign manager. Though Mueller hasn't recommended a specific sentence, federal guidelines recommend a prison term of between 19.5 and 24 years for Manafort.
The charges for which Manafort will be sentenced on Thursday include eight counts of bank fraud and other crimes for which he was convicted after an August trial, Reuters reported.
Defense lawyers have asked the judge to sentence Manafort to beetween 4-1/4 and 5-1/4 years in prison, and are expected to tell the judge that their client is remorseful and that the sentencing guidelines cited by prosecutors call for a prison term disproportionate to the offenses committed.
"The Special Counsel’s attempt to vilify Mr. Manafort as a lifelong and irredeemable felon is beyond the pale and grossly overstates the facts before this court," Manafort's lawyers wrote in a sentencing memo.
As one Twitter commentator pointed out, should he receive anything close to the maximum sentence, 69-year-old Manafort would very likely die in prison.
Manafort will die in prison if Trump doesn’t pardon him.
— Allan (@Allancook) March 6, 2019
The sentencing hearing is set for 3:30 pm ET. Next week, Manafort will face another sentencing in a separate case in Washington on two conspiracy charges to which he pleaded guilty in September as part of his plea with Mueller. He faces a statutory minimum of 10 years in that case, which US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson could potentially stack on top of whatever Mueller receives on Thursday.
Though he cooperated with prosecutors, Manafort has reportedly been holding out hope for a presidential pardon, which President Trump hasn't ruled out.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-07/hell-die-prison-manafort-facing-24-years-sentencing-looms