VOA News :
Paul Manafort, who served as U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign manager for several months in mid-2016, is set to be sentenced Thursday in federal court for tax and bank fraud.
Sentencing guidelines suggest a judge could send Manafort to prison for between 19 and 24 years. For a man who turns 70 on April 1, such a sentence could mean spending the rest of his life behind bars.
Manafort’s lawyers have argued for a lighter punishment, saying he has suffered health problems and has seen his reputation and finances harmed by his high-profile prosecution. Prosecutors countered that the prison time guidelines were appropriate, and that Manafort should also have to pay a fine ranging from $50,000 to $24 million.
A jury convicted Manafort in December on eight felony counts for hiding income from U.S. tax authorities money he earned while working as a lobbyist in Ukraine.
He is due to be sentenced in a second federal case next week on conspiracy and witness tampering charges.
