Politics

Ex-Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort to be sentenced in Virginia federal case March 8 — days before DC case punishment

Key Points
  • Paul Manafort, former chairman of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, will be sentenced for multiple crimes in federal court in Virginia on March 8, a judge said.
  • Manafort already was scheduled to be sentenced in Washington, D.C., federal court on March 13.
  • Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, said sentencing guidelines recommend a prison term of up to 24 years for Manafort, for crimes that relate to income from consulting work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, walks out of the U.S. Courthouse after a bond hearing in Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2017.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Paul Manafort, former chairman of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, will be sentenced for multiple crimes in Virginia federal court on March 8 — just five days before he is due to be sentenced in a related case in Washington, D.C., a judge ordered Thursday.

Manafort, 69, potentially faces decades in prison after he is sentenced in both cases for crimes connected to income earned from consulting work he performed in Ukraine for a pro-Russia political party before joining the Trump campaign.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, in a memo last Friday to Judge T.S. Ellis in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, said that federal sentencing guidelines suggest that Ellis should send Manafort to prison for 19 years to 24 years for his case there.

Manafort's defense team is due to file its own sentencing memo in Virginia by March 1.

The longtime Republican operative has been held in jail since last June, when the judge in his Washington federal court case, Amy Berman Jackson, revoked his bond after he was accused by Mueller of trying to tamper with potential witnesses against him.

Manafort was convicted in late August after his first trial in Virginia on eight felony counts, including tax fraud, failure to file a report of foreign bank and financial accounts, and bank fraud. Jurors there deadlocked on 10 other counts.

Weeks later, just three days before he was due to go on trial in Washington, Manafort pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in that court. He also agreed to cooperate with Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the presidential election, and possible collusion by members of Trump's campaign. Trump denies any wrongdoing by his campaign.

In November, Mueller accused Manafort of violating his plea agreement by lying about his contacts with alleged Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik, a former associate. Kilimnik has denied ties to Russian intelligence agencies.

Manafort is scheduled to be sentenced March 13 in the D.C. case. Jackson on Thursday told Manafort's lawyers to file their sentencing recommendation in that case by next Monday.

Mueller's sentencing memo in the D.C. case is due Friday.