WASHINGTON: Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller urged a federal judge in Virginia on Friday to impose a strict prison sentence for President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, after a jury last year convicted him on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.
In their sentencing memo filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, prosecutors said Manafort, who is 69, deserves between 19.6 and 24.4 years in prison and a fine of between $50,000 and $24 million.
Friday’s court filing in Virginia came just days after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Manafort had breached his plea agreement in a parallel case by lying to investigators despite a pledge to cooperate.
That finding earlier this week by Judge Amy Berman Jackson in US District Court for the District of Columbia could have a direct impact on how Manafort is sentenced in the Virginia case.
Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, had planned to sentence Manafort on Feb. 8, but he later postponed that until after Jackson’s ruling, saying it “may have some effect on the sentencing decision in this case.”
Manafort was one of the first people in Trump’s orbit to face criminal charges as part of Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to tilt the 2016 presidential election in his favor.
Trump has denied colluding and called the probe a witch hunt, while Russia has denied meddling in the election.
None of the charges Manafort faced related directly to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
In the Virginia case, prosecutors accused Manafort of hiding from US tax authorities $16 million he earned as a political consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, money he used to fund an opulent lifestyle.
Later, when his lobbying work started to dry up following the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, prosecutors said Manafort began lying to banks to secure $20 million in loans to keep his lifestyle afloat.
After almost four days of deliberations, a 12-member jury found Manafort guilty on two counts of bank fraud, five counts of tax fraud and one charge of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.
Mueller seeks tough sentence for ex-Trump campaign chairman Manafort
Mueller seeks tough sentence for ex-Trump campaign chairman Manafort
- Manafort was convicted by a jury last year on eight counts of bank and tax fraud
- A judge ruled lately that Manafort had breached his plea agreement in a parallel case
Canada PM Carney says can’t rule out military participation in Iran war
- Carney had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law”
- However, he supports the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon
CANBERRA, Australia: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that he couldn’t rule out his country’s military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East.
Carney’s visit to Australia this week has been overshadowed by expanding war in the Middle East, sparked by a massive US-Israeli strike on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Speaking alongside local counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Carney was asked whether there was a situation in which Canada would get involved.
“One can never categorically rule out participation,” he said, while stressing the question was a “hypothetical” one.
“We will stand by our allies,” said Carney, adding that “we will always defend Canadians.”
Carney had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law.”
However, he supports the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — a position that Canada takes “with regret” as it represented “another example of the failure of the international order.”
The Canadian leader reiterated on Thursday his call for a “de-escalation” of the conflict.
Carney’s trip is part of a multi-country tour of the Asia-Pacific aimed at reducing reliance on the United States — a hedge against what he has described as a fading US-led global order.
The Australia leg of the tour is aimed at bringing in investment and deepening ties with a like-minded “middle power” partner.
‘Middle power’ rallying cry
On Thursday morning he issued a rallying cry in Australia’s parliament to “middle powers,” urging them to work together in an increasingly hegemonic world order.
Nations like Australia and Canada faced a stark choice — work together to help write the “new rules” of the global order or have great powers do it for them, he said.
“In this brave new world, middle powers cannot simply build higher walls and retreat behind them. We must work together,” he said.
“Great powers can compel, but compulsion comes with costs, both reputational and financial,” the former central banker added.
“Middle powers like Australia and Canada hold this rare convening power because others know we mean what we say and we will match our values with our actions.”
The Canadian leader also said the two countries would together as “strategic collaborators” to pool their vast combined rare earth mineral resources.
And he detailed renewed cooperation in areas from defense to artificial intelligence.
“We know we must work with others who share our values to build solid capabilities,” he told parliament.
Otherwise, he warned, they risked being “caught between the hyperscalers and the hegemons.”
The Canadian leader has frequently clashed with US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and slapped swingeing tariffs on the country.
In a speech to political and financial elites at the World Economic Forum in January, Carney warned the US?led global system of governance was enduring “a rupture.”
