US President Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison on Thursday for tax crimes and bank fraud in the highest profile case yet stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
It was the stiffest prison sentence given so far to an associate of the president in Mueller's probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election but was significantly lighter than many expected.
Judge TS Ellis said the 69-year-old Manafort had committed "very serious crimes" but he rebuffed arguments by prosecutors from the Special Counsel's office for a longer sentence.
Advisory sentencing guidelines called for a prison term of between 19 and 24 years but Ellis dismissed that as "excessive" and disproportionate to what other defendants have received for similar crimes.
"The government cannot sweep away the history of all these previous sentences," the judge said.
Manafort was convicted in August of five counts of filing false income tax returns, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to report a foreign bank account.
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Prosecutors alleged that Manafort used offshore bank accounts in Cyprus and other countries to hide more than USD 55 million he earned from political consulting services he provided to Ukrainian politicians.
The money was used to support a lavish lifestyle which included purchases of luxury homes and cars, antique rugs, and expensive clothes, including an USD 18,500 python jacket.
His conviction was the culmination of a stunning downfall for a man who, in addition to Trump's campaign, worked on the White House bids of Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H W Bush and Bob Dole.
Speaking from a wheelchair and wearing a green prison jumpsuit with the words "Alexandria Inmate," Manafort told the court before sentencing that his "life, professionally and personally, is in a shambles."
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