Paul Manafort's new EDVA sentencing memorandum.

He's being sentenced on March 7 for his Eastern District Virginia federal crimes, so his attorneys wrote a brief about why he deserves a lower sentence than under the standard guidelines. The document is at the link below.

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/expect-manaforts-attorneys-to-remind-t-s-ellis-iii-that-he-was-skeptical-of-muellers-intentions/

Manafort’s team accused the special counsel of ignoring DOJ’s prior practices on prosecuting tax offenses.

“The real difference, it seems, is that the Special Counsel’s Office is prosecuting someone caught up in its Russian collusion investigation, so to ratchet up the pressure, or to make an example of Mr. Manafort, DOJ’s previous practice can be ignored,” they said. “At bottom, the use of the FBAR Guidelines in this case goes against the government’s longstanding practice of advocating for the application of the tax Guidelines to tax and tax-related offenses.”

SNIP

“A lengthy jail sentence is not called for in this case and would not further the statutory goals of sentencing,” they said. “As a result of this widely-reported case, the public now understands what can happen when the full prosecutorial force of the United States government is brought down upon an individual, and would-be violators have been generally deterred from engaging in similar conduct.”

The special counsel already recommended 19-24.5 years in the Virginia case for the Manafort’s Aug. 2018 conviction on eight counts of bank and tax fraud. Judge Ellis, despite his desire to expedite sentencing due to Manafort’s failing health, decided to wait until Judge Amy Berman Jackson made a determination regarding the ongoing plea breach dispute. Judge Jackson agreed that Manafort lied in breach of the plea deal in three areas, including the area connected to Manafort’s former lobbying associate, Russian national Konstantin Kilimnik.