Paul Manafort lawyers request leniency in court: ‘This case is not about murder, drug cartels, or organised crime’

Paul Manafort’s lawyers have asked for leniency in his sentencing, arguing in federal court that their client’s charges are rarely prosecuted and that the former Donald Trump campaign consultant is not a hardened criminal.

Manafort is already facing as many as 24 years in prison after his conviction on charges including tax and bank fraud last year. The new sentencing concerns two further charges of conspiracy he pleaded guilty to last year.

“Manafort, who over the decades has served four U.S. presidents and has no prior criminal history, is presented to this court by the government as a hardened criminal who ‘brazenly’ violated the law and deserves no mercy,” Manafort’s lawyers Monday said in a memo. “But this case is not about murder, drug cartels, organised crime, the Madoff Ponzi scheme or the collapse of Enron.”

While Manafort’s charges stemmed from the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign, the political operative’s lawyers argued in court filings that their client’s particular charges are unrelated to the primary focus of that investigation.

"Manafort has been punished substantially, including the forfeiture of most of his assets,“ his attorneys wrote in court filings regarding their 69-year-old client. "In light of his age and health concerns, a significant additional period of incarceration will likely amount to a life sentence for a first time offender."

The former Trump campaign chairman pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy against the US and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, and promised at that time to cooperate with the special counsel investigation run by Robert Mueller. He faces up to five years for those charges.

Prosecutors on Mr Mueller’s team told Judge Amy Berman Jackson last week that Manafort had “brazenly violated the law” for repeatedly violating American laws.

But, Manafort’s attorneys argued in their plea for leniency that their client is something of a victim to the circumstances, given how much attention has been given to the Donald Trump campaign and any connection it may have had with Russia in 2016.

They argued that Manafort’s charges stem from a “mundane” case that revolves, essentially, around their client’s failure to properly document his income.

“The special counsel’s attempt to portray him as a lifelong and irredeemable felon is beyond the pale and grossly overstates the facts before this court,” the attorneys wrote.