Manaforts crimes are as bad as they are because he and his buddies were instrumental in destroying a country that was already fighting for its survival and many people have died and will continue to die as a result of this. If you compare the reaction to the VW scandal to what is happening here it is funny how the 'end result' is so much worse in the case of Manafort that it is a miracle he's just indicted for what are in essence financial issues.

The austerity and economic issues are very tiny part of the contrast here, the real damage is the instability in an already fragile region of the world and the machinations to act against the interests of almost all parties in the region except for the Russians.