To be rich, white and privileged

A wit once quipped, “What is the difference between white collar crime and blue-collar crime?”

“The white collar criminal steals more – and pays less.” Such is certainly true former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort who faced up to 24 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis called that calculation ‘excessive,’ instead sentencing him to 47 months.

“He has lived an otherwise blameless life,” the Judge said of Manafort, better known as a central figure in the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe – who was also convicted in the Virginia court last summer on eight counts of bank fraud, tax fraud, and failing to file a foreign bank account report.

Ellis tipped his hand to the hypocrisy of his “statement of woeful compassion” when the federal jurist ordered Manafort to finally cough up $6 million in unpaid taxes, in addition to $24 million in restitution, as well as a $50,000 fine.

Can one imagine a young African-American male sentenced in court for collusion with a criminal entity and having embezzled twenty-four thousand dollars – much less twenty-four million – just receiving four years in prison?

The RICO statutes would demand more. However, seeking to undermine U.S. sanctions, after taking illegal bribes from foreign governments, somehow squares as simply not the same.

Once upon a time, we knew such behavior as treason. Today, we call it “white collar crime.” Emphasis on the white. No wonder so many young African Americans express such cynicism about the criminal justice system. Too many poor young men know — with confidence — their destiny guarantees them behind bars for their entire lives no later than their 25th birthdays. It matters not what violent actions they take now. Life imprisonment stands as a surety regardless.

Such cynicism rips the social fabric apart. Judge Ellis’ justification, that he considered the sentencing guidelines “way out of whack,” as other defendants charged with tax evasion or hiding foreign accounts typically get sentences of less than a year and often just probation, somehow translates into a giant tearing sound. The hearts of the hopeless on society’s periphery shatter in despair.

The jurist just did not want to see 69-year-old Paul Manafort “die in prison.” How many young boys – barely out of puberty – will spend decades in prison, and die there, because of mandatory minimums for stealing far less.

Moreover, it’s not like Manafort cooperated with Mueller. When one served as an adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush – as well as Donald Trump – repeatedly lying to investigators apparently does not count. A blue-collar criminal, or at least one not so white, would see added years for his multiple falsehoods. Manafort instead may see his sentences run concurrently rather than consecutively.

Still, this white collar privilege is not a settled fact. Time still remains to set a better example than those in power play by a different rule book, as Judge T.S. Ellis III does not possess the final word on Manafort’s fate.

Another sentencing hearing comes this week for the crimes the former Presidential advisor pleaded guilty to in the aforementioned Virginia case: acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Ukraine, money laundering, and witness tampering.

One can only hope for a color blind result. Maybe Manafort’s collar will even turn blue this time.

This article originally published in the March 11, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.