WTF Just Happened Today

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

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1/ Paul Manafort was sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison after receiving an additional 43 months on federal conspiracy charges at his sentencing hearing in Washington, D.C. Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Manafort to 60 months in prison on the first of two criminal conspiracy counts – 30 of those months will be served concurrently with Manafort's prior sentence in a separate case. Jackson also sentenced Manafort to 13 months of consecutive prison time on his second criminal count, for a total of 43 additional months in prison to the 47 months he was sentenced to last week in Virginia. Jackson accused Manafort of spending a "significant portion of his career gaming the system" before sentencing him to what is now the longest sentence for anyone ensnared in Mueller's nearly two-year-old probe. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / NBC News / CNN / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)

• ???? Day 778: Paul Manafort was sentenced to less than four years in jail in the first of two cases against him. Manafort's 47 months in prison for bank and tax fraud was far lighter than the 19- to 24-year prison term recommended under federal sentencing guidelines. Manafort was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and restitution of just over $24 million. Judge T. S. Ellis said he thought the sentencing recommendation was "excessive," adding that he believed Manafort "lived an otherwise blameless life." It's the longest sentence to date for a Trump associate caught up in Robert Mueller's investigation. Manafort will also be sentenced next week on separate charges that he served as an unregistered foreign agent, laundered money and tampered with a witness. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NPR / ABC News / CNBC)

2/ New York prosecutors indicted Manafort with 16 counts related to mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records shortly after he was sentenced for federal crimes. The new state charges against Manafort allege a scheme of falsifying business record...

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