Paul Manafort after being booked in July 2018.Credit:AP
The 47 month sentence imposed by US District Judge TS Ellis at a courthouse in Virginia was far less than the 19 to 24 years prosecutors had recommended.
Manafort,69,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 crimes do not directly relate to the 2016 election.
Prosecutors accused Manafort of hiding from the US government millions of dollars he earned as a consultant for Ukraine's former pro-Russia government.
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Mueller had written to the judge to say the sentence should reflect the seriousness of the crimes.
"Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law,and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars,” Mueller wrote.
But Ellis said the sentence sought by prosecutors was excessive and would create"an unwarranted disparity"with other cases.