Mueller Hammers Manafort's Lack of Remorse as Sentencing Nears

Paul Manafort has failed to accept responsibility for his crimes, Special Counsel Robert Mueller told the Virginia judge who will sentence him in two days.

In their final submission to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria, prosecutors working for Mueller accused the former chairman of President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign of shifting blame to “everyone from the Special Counsel’s Office to his Ukrainian clients.” The filing came in response to Manafort’s bid for leniency.

'Manafort suggests, for example, that but for the appointment of the Special Counsel’s Office, he would not have been charged in connection with hiding more than $55 million abroad, failing to pay more than $6 million in taxes, and defrauding three financial institutions of more than $25 million dollars,” prosecutors said.

Manafort, 69, faces as long as 24 years in prison after being convicted of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to disclose offshore bank accounts to U.S. authorities, following a trial last year.

Defense attorneys have cited Manafort’s age, health and lack of a prior criminal record. Next week, he faces sentencing before another judge in Washington, where he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts after his Virginia convictions.