If there were a Robert Mueller version of Monopoly, three of Donald Trump's (former) closest allies would have had a bad roll of the dice this week.

The first player on the board was his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

"But for a short stint as a campaign manager in a presidential election I don't think we'd be here today," his lawyer told the judge sentencing Manafort in a DC court this week.

But his claims of political motivation received short shrift from Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who retorted that investigations into illegal foreign lobbying were underway before the special counsel's Russia investigation began.

Paul Manafort "bought more suits than one man can wear" with his ill-gotten gains funding "a lifestyle at the most opulent level possible", she said when sentencing him in the second case against him in as many weeks.

Remember the $15,000 dollar ostrich leather jacket?

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It's the equivalent of buying up Boardwalk (or Mayfair, for those who grew up on the British version) and slapping down two hotels just because you can.

That jacket was just one of the luxury items Manafort bought with millions in undeclared, laundered funds that came from his work as an unregistered foreign agent working as a lobbyist on behalf of the Ukraine Government.

A foreign agent is not a spy, the judge pointed out, but "what you were doing was lying to Members of Congress and the American public", she told Manafort, who was secretly on the payroll of the pro-Russia government of Viktor Yanukovych.

"It is hard to overstate the number of lies and the amount of fraud," she said when delivering a complicated sentencing that required journalists to dust off their high school maths skills while on deadline.

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Across the two cases against him in Virginia and DC, the former high-profile Republican lobbyist has been sentenced to about seven and a half years in prison. It will be a bit less, considering time served and potential good behaviour.

Oh, and there's also a possible presidential pardon

It's clear that Manafort is angling for a pardon. His lawyers have echoed Mr Trump's "witch hunt" and "no collusion" sentiments for months now.

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The phrases even surfaced during the trial.

"The 'no collusion' mantra is also not accurate, because the investigation is still ongoing," the judge said.

And the question of Russian collusion was not presented in this case. Period.

Yet in a moment emblematic of the post-truth era, speaking in front of the courthouse Manafort's lawyer Kevin Downing said the court "did not find any collusion".

This is patently untrue.

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Mr Trump, when asked about a pardon following the sentencing, said he hadn't given it any thought.

"It's not something that's right now on my mind. I do feel badly for Paul Manafort, that I can tell you."

Manafort drew the Go Directly To Jail, Do Not Pass Go card just moments after that sentencing, when the New York Attorney-General indicted him on 16 counts of fraud and conspiracy.

If he's convicted for the worst of his counts, Manafort could be looking at an additional 25 years in prison.

And by the way, the President can only issue pardons for federal crimes, not state crimes like these.

So what does jail life look like for Paul Manafort?

Well, when you're a white-collar criminal the "slammer" looks more like a college campus.

The minimum-security prison where he is likely to be headed has no barbed-wire fences. No prison uniforms. No shared cell.

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You can even take a dog for a walk, play racquetball, or order a cappuccino.

No word on whether you can wear an ostrich jacket, though.

Justice never looked so ... privileged.

Speaking of pardons...

Next to roll the dice was the President's former lawyer, Michael Cohen. We now know that he asked for a pardon. He may have even been promised one.

That'd be a Get out of Jail Free card (which are very rare in Robert Mueller Monopoly, believe me).

The news comes as Cohen is gearing up for a three-year jail sentence and spilling his guts in a series of closed-door congressional testimonies.

Sorry, this video has expired Cohen gives damning evidence against Trump

Allegedly, he provided elected politicians with two emails from April of 2018 — soon after his home was raided by the FBI.

One was sent by Robert Costello, a long-time acquaintance of Mr Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Mr Costello wrote that Cohen could "sleep well tonight," because he has "friends in high places."

In another email, Mr Costello told Cohen:

"I just spoke to Rudy Giuliani and told him I was on your team. [...] He asked me to tell you that he knows how tough this is on you and your family, and he will make (sure) to tell the President. He said thank you for opening this back channel of communication and asked me to keep in touch."

Dangling a pardon? Top democrats are sure interpreting it that way.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said, "we have seen the President dangle pardons publicly ... it doesn't require any great imagination to picture the President also having the conversations privately, as he is having them quite publicly."

Mr Costello called that read "utter nonsense."

New reports also suggest Mr Trump discussed the Cohen investigation with his acting Attorney-General Matthew Whitaker.

So there's that.

Could Mueller be wrapping up (again, finally)?

Mr Trump's associate, Roger Stone, drew the Go Back Three spaces card during his turn — we found out he won't head to trial until November.

The nine-month wait is in part because there's so much evidence to look through.

"We could pile it as high as the Washington monument twice," said Mr Stone's lawyer, never one to exaggerate, clearly.

Mr Stone pled not guilty to seven charges related to lying about his role in the 2016 WikiLeaks release of Democrat's emails.

So, sorry to say, this Russia story won't be over any time soon.

At this point, estimating when Mr Mueller might publish the report is like trying to guess the scheduling of the next "daily" White House press briefing. Neither are predictable.

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But if you're into it, here's another clue for you.

One of Mr Mueller's top staffers is leaving.

Andrew Weissmann, known as "the LeBron James of laundering", took the lead on the case against Manafort. He recently accepted a high-profile teaching gig.

Mr Weissmann is just the latest of Mr Mueller's people to leave the team in recent weeks.

Some say it's a sign the team is wrapping up.

One thing is for sure, there are a few turns left in the grand game of Robert Mueller Monopoly that are yet to be played.