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By Gary Grumbach and Adiel Kaplan
WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort is now in federal prison. Manafort, who was convicted and pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple charges of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy, is serving his 7.5 year sentence at a minimum-security facility outside Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
Manafort is being held at the United States Penitentiary Canaan in Waymart, Pennsylvania, with an expected release date of Dec. 25, 2024, according to the website. He has been in federal custody since June 2018, and was previously held in two Virginia jails. Canaan has a high-security prison and a minimum-security camp. The Washington Post first reported that Manafort is in the minimum-security camp.
The political operative was sentenced in separate federal court cases in Virginia and D.C. in March, receiving a total sentence of seven-and-a-half years, minus credit for nine months of time served. Federal prisoners must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before they are eligible for supervised release.
Hours after Manafort’s second sentencing, the Manhattan district attorney announced that Manafort had been indicted by a grand jury in New York on 16 counts related to residential mortgage fraud, continuing his legal troubles, this time in state court.
Shortly after the second federal sentencing, President Donald Trump said that he’d given no thought to a pardon, although he felt “very badly” for his former associate.
Manafort agreed to cooperate with the Mueller investigation in the D.C. case in September and pleaded guilty to two counts: one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and another count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He had previously been convicted on eight felony fraud counts in his Virginia case.
In January, special counsel Robert Mueller’s team told a judge that Manafort should no longer get credit for cooperating, saying Manafort had lied to investigators about a $125,000 payment he received in 2017, his conversations with a former associate who’s been accused of being a Russian intelligence operative, contacts with administration officials, and an unspecified ongoing investigation.