A former Donald Trump campaign official, Rick Gates has been given 45 days in jail and three years of probation for conspiracy against the United States, the Evening Standard reports.
Rick Gates worked as a campaign consultant on Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential election.
Gates is one of a half-dozen associates of Mr Trump charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia
He gave extensive cooperation during the probe and other investigations.
Gates had pleaded guilty in February 2018 to charges relating to lucrative political consulting work he carried out in Ukraine, including lying to the FBI and conspiracy against the United States.
Neither prosecutors nor attorneys for Gates had requested any prison time because of his cooperation.
The jail sentence, which US district judge Amy Berman Jackson said was needed to reflect the seriousness of his crimes, is to be served intermittently during three years of probation.
Gates shook hands warmly with a prosecutor from Mr Mueller’s team before the hearing began.
Judge Berman Jackson commended Gates for his cooperation, describing it as an “important public service” that went to the heart of the central question that Mr Mueller and his team had sought to answer: whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 election.
She added: “Gates’ information alone warranted – indeed, demanded – further investigation from the standpoint of our national security, the integrity of our elections and the enforcement of our criminal laws.”
But the judge also scolded him for years of financial crimes and deception that continued even after he had agreed to plead guilty and cooperate. She said it was “hard to overstate the number of lies” and the amount of fraud involved in the case.
“All of it,” the judge said, “has to factor into the sentence.”.
All six men charged during Mueller’s investigation have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty at trial. The three who have already been sentenced have all received prison time.
Two others, former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn and Trump confidant Roger Stone, are awaiting sentencing.
Gates was among the first defendants charged in Mr Mueller’s investigation.