Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The defense counsel for onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort argued in court documents filed late Monday that their client should face a prison sentence “substantially below the statutory maximum” for crimes to which he pleaded guilty last year.
“This case is not about murder, drug cartels, organized crime, the Madoff Ponzi scheme or the collapse of Enron,” Manafort’s legal team argued in the sentencing memo, adding, “he has accepted full responsibility by pleading guilty to this conduct.”
Manafort pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy last year in a case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election.
Special counsel prosecutors described the extent and seriousness of Paul Manafort’s “bold” crimes in court documents unsealed over the weekend and suggested his sentence should reflect the “gravity of his conduct.”
Manafort’s repeated lies reflect a “hardened adherence to crimes and lack of remorse,” prosecutors wrote.
The special counsel’s office previously indicted Manafort, 69, in separate cases in Virginia and Washington, D.C., on charges ranging from financial crimes to conspiracy and witness tampering.
He faces up to 10 years in prison in the Washington case and up to 25 years in Virginia, according to statutory maximums.
Sentencing in both cases is scheduled for next month.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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