Who is Paul Manafort?

Paul Manafort is a political consultant who was the chairman of the campaign to get Donald Trump elected as president.

:: The Mueller probe: What's it all about and who's being investigated?

Image: Paul Manafort poses for his mugshot after being arrested

What part did he play in Mr Trump's campaign?

Mr Trump announced he was running for president in June 2015 and was immediately declared a rank outsider. But, with a series of controversial comments and promises winning him much press attention, the chance he could be elected became increasingly possible.

Initially, the president proudly pledged he was self-funding his campaign so wouldn't need the kind of political machinery most of his predecessors had required. But, by early 2016, he had started to spend considerable amounts of money, with millions of dollars in donations coming in.


As a result of his early success in the primaries in February 2016, the Trump campaign stepped up its activities.

In 2015, his campaign staff had consisted of five key people, according to Intelligencer - manager Corey Lewandowski, lawyer Michael Cohen, veteran operative Roger Stone, communications manager Hope Hicks and aide Sam Nunberg - but Nunberg and Stone left in the summer.

Manafort joined Mr Trump's campaign as the primaries got under way, after approaching him through a mutual friend.

He had previous experience as an adviser to the campaigns of Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush and had also worked as an international lobbyist and consultant.

At first, his task was to persuade presidential delegates to back his boss, but within months, he had been placed above Mr Lewandowski into the campaign chairman role.

In early June, he was with Donald Trump Jr and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner when they met Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and a British music agent who had offered to help the Trump campaign by providing information that would damage Hillary Clinton.

But within weeks, Manafort was sidelined and then sacked when it emerged he had received secret payments as a result of his links to pro-Russian Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych.

:: Ex-Trump campaign chair found guilty of tax fraud

Image: Paul Manafort arrives in court

What has he been found guilty of?

Manafort was subject to two trials: one in Virginia and another in Washington DC.

In Virginia, he was convicted of eight counts of tax evasion, bank fraud and hiding foreign accounts.

The 69-year-old was sentenced last Thursday to 47 months in prison after a court heard he hid $16m (£12m) from US tax authorities - money he earned as a political consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine and used to fund an opulent lifestyle.

While working with pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, he had been able to buy luxurious homes, designer suits and even a $15,000 (£11,462) ostrich-skin jacket.

Later, when his lobbying work started to dry up after the ousting of Mr Yanukovych, prosecutors said Manafort began lying to banks to secure $20m (£15m) in loans to keep his lifestyle afloat.

In DC, he entered a guilty plea deal to charges of conspiring to defraud the US and witness tampering.

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to an additional three-and-a-half years in prison for two conspiracy charges.

:: What do Cohen and Manafort convictions mean for Trump?

What does it mean for him?

While seven-and-a-half years might seem a long sentence, Paul Manafort could have found himself spending longer in a correctional facility if he had not co-operated with the authorities.

Indeed, even after co-operating he found himself lucky.

Image: Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and chairman Paul Manafort

The man who investigated him, special counsel Robert Mueller, had said in court filings he should face up to 24 years in jail for the financial crimes, and fines of up to $50m (£37.8m).

He has already spent many months in prison after the judge decided it was too risky to leave him free, because he had admitted witness tampering.

And even after this latest sentence, he may still escape relatively unscathed, with rumours circulating that - based on the tone of Mr Trump's earlier comments - Manafort may yet be pardoned.

:: How Michael Cohen's testimony fits into the Mueller investigation

What does it mean for Donald Trump?

Paul Manafort is just one of several former Trump aides to have been caught up in Mr Mueller's investigations into potential collusion between the president's 2016 campaign and Russia.

The fact that, like in the other cases, no evidence emerged of the president's links with Russia will further embolden Mr Trump.

Last week, Mr Trump hailed the proceedings in the Manafort trial in Virginia, claiming on Twitter: "Both the Judge and the lawyer in the Paul Manafort case stated loudly and for the world to hear that there was NO COLLUSION with Russia" - a claim that has been disputed.

But Mr Mueller's investigation into alleged collusion continues, and he is expected to submit his report soon.

Image: Rick Gates, a campaign aide to the president, has also faced charges

Michael Cohen, campaign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, campaign aide Rick Gates and former national security adviser Michael Flynn have also been convicted as part of the probe - and Roger Stone is also facing charges.

So far, none of these have been linked to the 13 Russian nationals and 12 Russian GRU officers also indicted by the special prosecutor.

Without hard proof linking the president to anything, it's likely to be business as normal.

However, if the president does pardon a man he has described as "brave", it may not go down well with voters.