Judge: Former Trump Campaign Chairman Could Spend Life in Prison

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort “faces the very real possibility” of a lifetime prison sentence, according to a federal court order reviewed by Fox News Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, in an order made public Tuesday, wrote that Manafort “poses a substantial flight risk” because of his “financial means and international connections to flee and remain at large.”

“Specifically given the nature of the charges against the defendant and the apparent weight of the evidence against him, defendant faces the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison,” Ellis wrote.

Ellis, who is based in federal court in Alexandria at the Eastern District of Virginia, has been assigned Manafort’s latest indictment brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Manafort pleaded not guilty last month to the superseding indictment, with its 18 counts of tax evasion and bank fraud.

Manafort, who was first indicted in October as part of Mueller’s special counsel investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates in the 2016 presidential election, pleaded not guilty to both indictments. (Read more from “Judge: Former Trump Campaign Chairman Could Spend Life in Prison” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.