In what could well be the greatest disconnect in the history of sentencing hearings, Judge T.S. Ellis III noted that Paul Manafort had refused to apologize for “very serious crimes” worth millions but then gave Manafort a fraction of what Special Counsel Robert Mueller had requested. Rather than the 19-24 years requested (and allowed under the guidelines), Manafort received 47 months with nine months cut off for time served. Thus, he will serve just 38 months for eight serious felonies. Manafort will receive three years of supervised release, and pay a $50,000 fine and $24 million in restitution.
Ellis previously raised eyebrows over his controversial comments and veiled criticism of the Special Counsel investigation.
In a new curious statement, Ellis seemed to dismiss the importance of apology or contrition. He told Manafort “I was surprised that I did not hear you express regret. That doesn’t make any difference on the judgment that I am about to make … but I hope you reflect on that.”
Ellis also said that Manafort led “an otherwise blameless life.” It is hard to see who Ellis was referring to unless Manafort has an evil twin. Manafort has long been viewed as a dubious character in D.C. with shady clients and practices.
After acknowledging that Manafort had “been convicted of serious crimes — very serious crimes — by a jury,” Ellis declared the requested sentence to be “excessive.”
Manafort was convicted by a jury in August of eight criminal charges — five counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to report foreign bank accounts. There were premeditated and long-standing criminal acts worth millions. Some kid in Chicago who robs a 7-11 can get 10 years easily, but Manafort can commit felonies for millions and walk after less than 4 years.
Notably, it is not clear whether Manafort will actually pay $24 million in restitution because of banks using forfeited properties to cover his debts. Yet, Ellis refused to order more fines, including the sale of two homes worth $4 million each and millions of other assets.
Manafort will now be sentenced in Washington for crimes in a second case by Judge Amy Berman Jackson. He however will be looking at a maximum of 10 years in that case for conspiracy against the U.S. and conspiracy to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses in D.C. If that sentence were to run concurrently, he would have come out with less time than many expected even if he receives near the maximum. Nevertheless, Manafort is turning 70 in April so a ten year sentence could still be a practice life sentence given his poor health.
While I don’t believe this to be necessarily the case with Mr. Manafort, it has been my later observation that if a convict receives a ridiculously low sentence, one only needs to wait until the screw up again and the book is thrown at them.
We had a problem child in one town that continually was in trouble, was a gang banger, and shown an increasing appetite for violence. I was certain that after he reached the age of majority he would soon be in prison.
He only managed to arrive at 19 before it happened. He threatened to kill another banger and pointed a gun at him. A coworker of mine nearly aired him out when he took the kid down. During the arrest he made a furtive movement, mimicking like he was going to draw a gun and shoot the officer. Several of us contacted the prosecutor and warned him the kid needed to be put away for an exceptional amount of time since he would probably kill someone if he was let free too soon.
At first he was looking at five years for the first degree assault case but just a few days before sentencing / plea we had a triple homicide and the deputy prosecutor cut the kid loose, claiming he didn’t have enough time to deal with the kid. Time served was all he got. There were a lot of guys working the south county who were quite pissed off at the prosecutor’s office I might add.
Well, as fate would have it only a couple months later the kid went on a crime spree with a few friends and ended up shooting at an officer up north. We tracked him down a day later and I took him to jail. (It was heartwarming to drive him through his hometown, knowing this would be the last time he would see his world until he was an old man.) The prosecutor’s office had to eat a lot of crow over that last debacle, and it wasn’t going to look the fool again. The kid went down for attempted first degree murder and got somewhere between thirty and forty years. Now he’s the Department of Correction’s problem.
Like I said before, with the criminal mind, a light sentence tends to embolden more crime. Give them enough rope, they’ll hang themselves every time. Just sit back and wait. You’ll have satisfaction eventually.
Manafort did not receive a particularly low sentence, as noted. The salient charge against him was tax fraud, which isn’t something the government can tolerate but isn’t an injury to a particular person, either. And, again, his methods were such that the Justice Department had determined in the past that his case wasn’t worth prosecuting.
He was in a shady line of work but not a criminal line of work. There’s business opportunities for men like Manafort because of the wretched-excess in the number and size of politically-determined incomes generated by complex tax systems and regulatory codes. If you want fewer and poorer Manaforts, you have to scrape the barnacles off the tax code and Code of Federal Regulations and see to it that the tax system and apparatus of regulation corrects actual market failures rather than generating opportunities for rent-seeking.
(Note the sweet obituaries Hale Boggs, III received at his death, esp. from his sister, Cokie Roberts of National Public Radio. Robert Strauss also used to get good press, though he took some darts from Michael Kinsley and Robert Kuttner. Manafort’s Darth Vader because reasons).
At some point P Turley & others in denial have to face up to the facts there was/is an ongoing Coup against the people’s US & it’s representative Prez DJ Trump.
MAGA….Morons Are Governing America
That is correct. While Rosenstein, Comey, McCabe, Strozk, Page, Kadzic, Yates, Baker, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Priestap, Kortan, Campbell, Steele, Simpson, Joseph Mifsud, Stefan “The Walrus” Halper et al. may have been purged, retired, removed or subject to prosecution, the morons of the Obama Coup D’etat in America persist in their acts of treason. Communists (i.e.dumbocraps) are doing their best to subvert the duly elected government of the United States because Hillary Clinton refused to accept the American election process – precisely what she accused President Trump of intending to do. Funny, in most countries, subversion and insurrection would be capital offenses.
So, the conspirators just forgot the players when they publicized the investigation into Hillary two weeks before the vote while keeping the investigation into Trump’s campaign secret? How was that supposed to work?
Peter Strzok to Lisa Page, “We’ll stop it.”
Lisa Page to Peter Strzok, “POTUS (Obama) wants to know everything we’re doing.”
Lisa Page to Peter Strzok, “And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.”
Lisa Page to Congress, “The texts mean what the texts say.”
________________________________________________
June 27, 2016 Bill Clinton buttonholed Loretta Lynch on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport. Four days later Page texted Strzok, “”And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
The texts that we have are illuminating. As Sharyl Attkisson reported at The Hill, the timeline of the text messages indicates that Lynch knew that Clinton would not face charges “even before the FBI conducted its three-hour interview with Clinton, which was supposedly meant to gather more information into her mishandling of classified information.”
On July 1, 2016, as the Lynch announcement became public, Page texted Strzok:
Page: And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.
– Sharyl Attkisson, The HIll
_____________________
“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”
– Proverb
________
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
So, to repeat myself, how did the conspirators forget the players and screw up Hillary’s campaign while protecting Trump’s?
PS You know that the IG found no inappropriate behavior from Strzock except texting personal politics on an fbi phone right? Do you know that the NY FBI office was known to be loaded with Hillary haters and that Comey announced the October investigation partly out of fear that they would leak it?
FBI agents are allowed political opinions as long as they don’t acct on them inappropriately. It’s called professionalism.
“POTUS (OBAMA) WANTS TO KNOW EVERYTHING WE’RE DOING.”
– LISA PAGE
__________
“…the IG found no inappropriate behavior..”
The IG does not adjudicate, but then you, Dr. Spin, knew that, didn’t you?
__________________________________________________________
“The FBI has fired Peter Strzok, an agent who was removed from the Russia probe last year for sending text messages disparaging President Donald Trump, Strzok’s lawyer said Monday.”
– CNN
_____
Please, by all means, drink Equus.
___________________________
Peter Strzok to Lisa Page, “We’ll stop it.”
Lisa Page to Peter Strzok, “POTUS (Obama) wants to know everything we’re doing.”
Lisa Page to Peter Strzok, “And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.”
Lisa Page to Congress, “The texts mean what the texts say.”
________________________________________________
June 27, 2016 Bill Clinton buttonholed Loretta Lynch on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport. Four days later Page texted Strzok, “”And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
The texts that we have are illuminating. As Sharyl Attkisson reported at The Hill, the timeline of the text messages indicates that Lynch knew that Clinton would not face charges “even before the FBI conducted its three-hour interview with Clinton, which was supposedly meant to gather more information into her mishandling of classified information.”
On July 1, 2016, as the Lynch announcement became public, Page texted Strzok:
Page: And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.
– Sharyl Attkisson, The HIll
_____________________
“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”
– Proverb
________
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
So, wait, you mean Comey thought announcing the Hillary investigation while hiding the Trump investigation would help Hillary! Damn, that was clever! Is there no bottom to the depths these monsters will stoop to to bring down Dear Leader!
“POTUS (OBAMA) WANTS TO KNOW EVERYTHING WE’RE DOING.”
– LISA PAGE
__________
“…the IG found no inappropriate behavior..”
The IG does not adjudicate, but then you, Dr. Spin, knew that, didn’t you?
__________________________________________________________
“The FBI has fired Peter Strzok, an agent who was removed from the Russia probe last year for sending text messages disparaging President Donald Trump, Strzok’s lawyer said Monday.”
– CNN
_____
Please, by all means, drink Equus.
___________________________
Peter Strzok to Lisa Page, “We’ll stop it.”
Lisa Page to Peter Strzok, “POTUS (Obama) wants to know everything we’re doing.”
Lisa Page to Peter Strzok, “And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.”
Lisa Page to Congress, “The texts mean what the texts say.”
________________________________________________
June 27, 2016 Bill Clinton buttonholed Loretta Lynch on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport. Four days later Page texted Strzok, “”And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
The texts that we have are illuminating. As Sharyl Attkisson reported at The Hill, the timeline of the text messages indicates that Lynch knew that Clinton would not face charges “even before the FBI conducted its three-hour interview with Clinton, which was supposedly meant to gather more information into her mishandling of classified information.”
On July 1, 2016, as the Lynch announcement became public, Page texted Strzok:
Page: And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.
– Sharyl Attkisson, The HIll
_____________________
“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”
– Proverb
________
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Call him an idiot and move on; he is not worth the frustration.
Hey George, get out of your bunker once in a while and get some fresh air.
Thanks for reading.
Just perfect, George.
Perfection is your level but thank you.
Manafort will be pardoned once the Russia Hoax investigation comes to an end. Thousands of unregistered Israeli agents lobby our Capitol every day for money, and in advancement of genocide and of stealing occupied land.
Reality Winner: NSA contractor jailed for five years over classified …
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/…/reality-winner-sentence-classified-report-leak
Aug 23, 2018 – Winner, who leaked report on Russian election interference, is first person Trump administration charged under Espionage Act. Amanda …
Manafort will be pardoned once the Russia Hoax investigation comes to an end. Thousands of unregistered Israeli agents lobby our Capitol every day for money, and in advancement of genocide and of stealing occupied land.
There are three lies in this sentence, and a great deal of malice. Civic life would be much improved if you would crawl back under that rock.
There are no lies in that sentence. AIPAC has been using money to influence U.S. foreign policy for decades. The lie is that the public is blind to this pernicious foreign influence because the media are gatekeepers. Furthermore, part of the reason Trump is being persecuted is because he flat out refused Jewish lobby money, and, because he is of German descent on his paternal side. Many Jews adhere to Talmudic ideology classifying all Germans as “Amalek” because of historical grievances.
AIPAC is a registered lobby like thousands of others. It does not have thousands of employees, registered or unregistered. There is no ‘genocide’ outside of your poisonous imagination. There are no thefts, either.
You simply have nothing of value to offer to anyone in this venue or any other. Back to Stormfront.
It is amazing how ignorant Peacefrog is.
You and This is absurd x 2 (which everything it says is truly absurd) need to disclose who pays you to protect their special interest.
The two of you are in a hole. Quit digging.
Ron, that you seem to agree with Peacefrog doesn’t say much for you. What special interest pays me? I’d like to know.
You and the 20 percent of Congress who hold dual citizenship with Israel should move there. It is clear that your loyalties are not with this country.
You and the 20 percent of Congress who hold dual citizenship with Israel
Again, this ‘20%’ do not exist outside your imagination. You cannot name a single member of Congress who has an Israeli passport or who owns property in Israel.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2012/09/26/how-the-israel-lobby-gets-what-it-wants/
https://forward.com/opinion/395676/its-time-for-aipac-to-register-as-a-foreign-agent/
Oh yeah, my Jewish wife is always calling me Amalek whenever I leave the seat up. She’s f….g persecuting me!!
If you’re outraged by the Manafort sentencing, then you should also be outraged by the Rick Gates plea deal as they both faced prosecution for essentially the same set of crimes. Gates faced up to 30 years in prison but Mueller dropped all bank fraud, tax fraud and money laundering charges in exchange for cooperation. Instead, Gates pleaded guilty to making a false statement and a generic conspiracy charge and faced a maximum sentence of five years with the very real possibility of little to no jail time. Cooperation is a significant mitigating factor but that’s a sweetheart deal by definition. It’s strange but I don’t remember the same level of outrage at the time.
Naturally, the Gates deal was intended as a signal to Manafort that he could expect similar treatment provided he cooperate with SC. However, despite the obvious incentive to give the SC what it wanted, Manafort declined to cooperate at that time.
In the end, I believe this factored into the sentencing. If anything, this situation has placed a spotlight on the often capricious and uneven application of plea deals, sentencing guidelines and sentencing.