Federal prosecutors on Saturday portrayed Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, as a hardened, remorseless criminal who “repeatedly and brazenly” violated a host of laws over more than a decade and did not deserve any breaks when he is sentenced in coming weeks.
The prosecutors’ sentencing memo, filed in one of the most high-profile cases mounted by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller and unsealed Saturday, painted a damning portrait of Manafort, 69, a political consultant who led Trump’s campaign during a critical five-month period in 2016.
The memo involved one of two federal cases against Manafort. Prosecutors did not recommend a sentence, instead citing sentencing guidelines of up to 22 years for a wide-ranging conspiracy involving obstruction of justice, money laundering, hidden overseas bank accounts and false statements to the Justice Department. But the two charges Manafort pleaded guilty to in the case carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The prosecutors and the defense will both have their final say about Manafort next month when he is sentenced for a total of 10 felonies stemming from the two separate prosecutions, one in Washington, D.C., and the other in Northern Virginia. Given his age, Manafort faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life, or something close to it, in prison.
The prosecutors were weighing in Saturday on the sentence that Manafort will receive from Judge Amy Berman Jackson of U.S. District Court in Washington. In that case, Manafort pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges in September and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Jackson ruled this month that Manafort had breached his plea agreement by lying to prosecutors, including about whether he shared Trump campaign polling data in 2016 with a Russian associate who prosecutors claim has ties to a Russian intelligence service.
Overall, the prosecutors said, Manafort’s behavior “reflects a hardened adherence to committing crimes and lack of remorse.” Despite his age, they said he “presents a grave risk of recidivism.” They noted that under advisory sentencing guidelines, Manafort would face a sentence of 17 to 22 years.