Rick Gates, ex-deputy campaign director of Donald Trump, was sentenced on Tuesday December 17 to 45 days in prison and three years of probation for having lied in connection with the investigation into the suspicions of interference in the 2016 presidential campaign led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller.
Gates, who was a business partner of ousted councilor Paul Manafort, is also convicted of embezzlement with his former partner, now imprisoned.
Cooperation with investigators
Richard Gates, 47, could have faced up to six years in prison if he had not decided to cooperate with prosecutors working under Mr. Mueller's aegis. His testimony weighed heavily in the conviction of Mr. Manafort for seven and a half years for tax and banking fraud.
He therefore benefited from the leniency of federal judge Amy Berman Jackson, who allowed him to serve his 45 days in prison only on weekends. Meanwhile, Paul Manafort, 70, was hospitalized for a heart alert last week, ABC chain reported on Tuesday. Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager is expected to return to his Pennsylvania prison soon.
