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.
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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
France bans 10 British far-right, anti-migration activists from entering
PARIS: France’s interior ministry said on Wednesday it has banned 10 British far-right activists from entering or staying in the country, after they carried out actions deemed to incite violence and seriously disturb public order on French territory.
The activists, identified as members of a group called “Raise the Colors” that was involved in a national flag-raising campaign, seek to find and destroy boats used to carry migrants and spread propaganda on France’s northern coast calling on the British public to join the movement to stop migration, according to the French interior ministry.
“Our rule of law is non-negotiable, violent or hate-inciting actions have no place on our territory,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday.
The ministry said in a statement it had been informed of the group’s activities in December last year and that it had referred the matter to the relevant authorities, as the actions were likely to cause “serious disturbances” to public order.
“Raise the Colors” describes itself as a grassroots movement that began in the central English city of Birmingham, when a small group started tying national flags to lampposts in a show of national pride. It says the effort has since spread across the UK.
The widespread display of the red-and-white St. George’s Cross for England and the Union Jack for Britain has prompted concern among some migrant communities as a reflection of rising anti-immigration sentiment in the country, coinciding with a wave of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers last year.
Neither the group nor the British Foreign Office immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment.
Immigration and the crossings of small boats carrying migrants from France have become a focal point for British voters and has helped propel Nigel Farage’s right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party, into a commanding opinion poll lead.
Farage last year in London met the leader of French far-right National Rally (RN) party, Jordan Bardella, who has accused France of being too soft on immigration.
The activists, identified as members of a group called “Raise the Colors” that was involved in a national flag-raising campaign, seek to find and destroy boats used to carry migrants and spread propaganda on France’s northern coast calling on the British public to join the movement to stop migration, according to the French interior ministry.
“Our rule of law is non-negotiable, violent or hate-inciting actions have no place on our territory,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday.
The ministry said in a statement it had been informed of the group’s activities in December last year and that it had referred the matter to the relevant authorities, as the actions were likely to cause “serious disturbances” to public order.
“Raise the Colors” describes itself as a grassroots movement that began in the central English city of Birmingham, when a small group started tying national flags to lampposts in a show of national pride. It says the effort has since spread across the UK.
The widespread display of the red-and-white St. George’s Cross for England and the Union Jack for Britain has prompted concern among some migrant communities as a reflection of rising anti-immigration sentiment in the country, coinciding with a wave of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers last year.
Neither the group nor the British Foreign Office immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment.
Immigration and the crossings of small boats carrying migrants from France have become a focal point for British voters and has helped propel Nigel Farage’s right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party, into a commanding opinion poll lead.
Farage last year in London met the leader of French far-right National Rally (RN) party, Jordan Bardella, who has accused France of being too soft on immigration.
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