Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been sentenced to almost four years in jail for financial crimes.
Mr Manafort was sentenced to 47 months behind bars by a US judge for bank and tax fraud uncovered during Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election. He was also ordered to pay $24.8 million in restitution and a $50,000 fine.
Manafort, a veteran Republican political consultant, was found guilty last August by a jury of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.
The nine months he has already served will count towards his sentence.
But people are using social media to criticise the sentence, comparing it to the longer sentences imposed on black people in America.
"Paul Manafort was just sentenced to less than 4 YEARS for committing multiple felonies, including tax and bank fraud Crystal Mason is serving FIVE YEARS for trying to vote in the 2016 election. (She didn't realise she was ineligible due to a prior conviction.)," tweeted one user.
Another pointed to Corvain Cooper, a black man who was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of money laundering, tax evasion and conspiracy to distribute marijuana. His family is currently petitioning the US President to stop mandatory life sentences for non-violent drug offences.
Mr Manafort had told the court ahead of his sentencing that his life is "professionally and financially in shambles."
"To say I have been humiliated and ashamed would be a gross understatement," Mr Manafort told US District Judge T.S. Ellis.
The former campaign chief with noticeably greyer hair than just months ago was brought into the Alexandria, Virginia courtroom in a wheelchair holding a cane, wearing a green prison jumpsuit emblazoned with the words "Alexandria inmate" on the back.
Judge Ellis had previously faced criticism by some in the legal community for comments he made during the trial that were widely interpreted as biased against the prosecution.
"It isn't a crime to have a lot of money and be profligate in your spending," Judge Ellis told prosecutors during the trial.
Mr Manafort was convicted after prosecutors accused him of hiding from the US government millions of dollars he earned as a consultant for Ukraine's former pro-Russia government. After pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster, prosecutors said, Manafort lied to banks to secure loans and maintain an opulent lifestyle with luxurious homes and designer suits.
Mr Manafort faces sentencing in a separate case next Wednesday in Washington on two conspiracy charges to which he pleaded guilty last September.
While he faces a statutory maximum of 10 years in the Washington case, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson potentially could stack that on top of the sentence imposed in the Virginia case, rather than allowing the sentences to run concurrently.
Mr Manafort is the only one of the 34 people and three companies charged by special counsel Robert Mueller to have gone to trial.
Several others including former campaign aides Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen have pleaded guilty, while longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone has pleaded not guilty.
Mr Gates, a key witness against Mr Manafort, has yet to be sentenced due to his ongoing cooperation with prosecutors.
President Trump, who has called Mr Mueller's investigation a politically motivated "witch hunt," has not ruled out granting a presidential pardon to MMr anafort, saying in November that "I wouldn’t take it off the table."
Judge Jackson on February 13 ruled that Mr Manafort had breached his agreement to cooperate with Mr Mueller's office by lying to prosecutors about three matters pertinent to the Russia probe including his interactions with a business partner they have said has ties to Russian intelligence.
Mr Mueller is preparing to submit to U.S. Attorney General William Barr a report on his investigation into whether Trump's campaign conspired with Russia and whether the President has unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. President Trump has denied collusion and obstruction and Russia has denied election interference.
The crimes for Mr Manafort was convicted did not directly relate to the 2016 election.
Stunning downfall
The sentencing capped a stunning downfall for Manafort, a prominent figure in Republican Party circles for decades who also worked as a consultant to such international figures as former Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Yanukovych.
Mr Manafort worked for Trump's campaign for five pivotal months in 2016 that included the Republican National Convention where Mr Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, three of them as campaign chairman.
Defence lawyers had asked Judge Ellis to sentence Manafort to between four and five years in prison, writing in their sentencing memo that Mueller's "attempt to vilify Mr Manafort as a lifelong and irredeemable felon is beyond the pale and grossly overstates the facts before this court."
Prosecutors did not recommend a specific sentence but had cited federal sentencing guidelines that called for 19 to 24 years in prison. Prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo that Mr Manafort "blames everyone from the Special Counsel's Office to his Ukrainian clients for his own criminal choices."
Judge Ellis had faced criticism by some in the legal community for comments he made during the trial that were widely interpreted as biased against the prosecution.
"It isn't a crime to have a lot of money and be profligate in your spending," Judge Ellis told prosecutors during the trial.