Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, breached his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller’s office by intentionally lying to prosecutors, a federal judge has ruled.
As a result they will not have to recommend a lighter sentence for him.
There was a “preponderance” of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner and alleged Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, Judge Amy Berman Jackson in the US District Court for the District of Columbia found.
However, she cleared the 69-year-old of allegations that he intentionally lied on two other subjects.
Mr Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, released a court transcript last week which suggested Manafort’s alleged lies were central to their investigation into potential collusion – something both Mr Trump and Russia have denied.
The special counsel contends that the former political operative lied about the number of times he and Mr Kilimnik discussed a “Ukrainian peace plan” – a reference to a proposal that would result in the US lifting sanctions on Russia, one of the Kremlin’s top objectives.
Mr Kilimik, a Russian citizen was a long-time employee of Manafort’s political consulting firm and had done extensive lobbying work for him in Ukraine on behalf of the country’s then pro-Russian President, Viktor Yanukovych.
He has denied allegations that he has ties to Russian intelligence.
In a court filing ahead of the ruling, Manfort’s lawyers repeated their argument that their client did not intentionally lied to prosecutors and stressed that he corrected any mistakes once they were pointed out to him.
The political operative was convicted of financial fraud relating to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine in August, although this pre-dated his role with Mr Trump’s presidential campaign.
He accepted a plea deal on his other charges in exchange for cooperating with Mr Mueller’s inquiry.
Mr Trump’s former aide had been hoping for leniency at his 5 March sentencing under the plea deal.
If he is found to have intentionally lied to the FBI, the government could seek a tougher sentence – including a maximum of life in prison.
