A federal judge sentenced Paul Manafort, who served as Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, to 47 months in prison on Thursday for dodging taxes and committing bank fraud, much less than he could have faced.

Iran Press/America: He will receive credit for 9 months of time already served.

Paul Manafort had previously been convicted by a jury on eight charges: 5 counts of tax fraud, 2 counts of bank fraud, and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account, CNN reported.

Before issuing the sentence, Judge T.S. Ellis said the sentencing range for Paul Manafort of 19-24 years is 'excessive,' noted he 'lived an otherwise blameless life,' was a good friend and generous person to others. “That doesn't erase his crimes however," Judge Ellis said.

After Manafort’s lawyer called it 'a very unusual case,' Ellis replied, 'nobody denies that.'

Ellis then says he’s 'rarely had a courtroom ever close to this full.'

“The real essence of his violation is that he stole from us, the people who pay their taxes,” Judge Ellis says of Manafort.

Manafort entered the court in a wheelchair and used a cane in the courtroom. He spoke before the judge for about four minutes at the end of the trial, before the judge issued his sentence.

Prior to sentencing, the judge said Manafort would get no credit for accepting responsibility for his crimes.

On those 50 hours of testimony, Mueller prosecutor Greg Andres said: “Manafort did not provide valuable information to the special counsel that wasn’t already known.”

Manafort got away with lucrative crimes around the world for decades. 103/211

Read more:

Bad news for Trump: Manafort agrees to spill Trump's secrets to Mueller

Double blow for president Trump as Manafort, Cohen convicted of financial crimes

Videos taken from Reuters and APTN