On the Manafort Sentences and Tax Crimes Sentencing (3/13/19)

I have hesitated to write on the Manafort sentencing principally because, although Manafort was convicted of tax crimes and FBAR crime that may related somewhat to tax crimes, the gravamen of the cases against him involved nontax offenses that most would consider more serious than the tax offenses.  His sentences in both cases reflected the more serious offenses.  So, I am not sure what I could  offer readers interested in criminal tax sentencing. 

I think both judges likely acted within the scope of their considerable discretion to sentence outside the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range. 

I post below some of the better discussions of which I am  aware:

• Douglas A. Berman, Rounding up some of many thoughts about Paul Manafort's (first) federal sentence (Sentencing Law and Policy Blog 3/10/19), here.  (This posting has further links.)
• Douglas A. Berman, Paul Manafort given (only?) 47 months in prison at first federal sentencing ((Sentencing Law and Policy Blog 3/7/19), here.

Now, on Tax Crimes sentencing specifically, I recommend Robert Horwitz's blog entry analyzing tax sentencing statistics:

• Robert S. Horwitz, Sentencing in Criminal Tax Cases: It’s Not What You Think (Taxlitigator.com Blog 2/26/19), here.