Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison at a hearing in an Alexandria, VA courthouse Thursday for bank and tax fraud.
As a part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion, investigators discovered that Manafort failed to report $16.5 million in income for political consulting work on behalf of Ukraine. They also found he dodged taxes on that income and failed to report foreign lobbying. The crimes were unrelated to his time serving in the Trump campaign.
“Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. “The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.” (Read more from “Paul Manafort Was Sentenced. Here’s How Long He’ll Spend in Prison.” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/42774523542_88535fbb7c_b-2.jpg754880Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2019-03-07 21:33:142019-03-07 21:29:09Paul Manafort Was Sentenced. Here’s How Long He’ll Spend in Prison.
A federal jury in Northern Virginia on Tuesday reached a guilty verdict in 8 of the 18 counts of bank and tax fraud brought against former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
CNBC reported that the jury found Manafort guilty of five counts of tax fraud.
Paul Manafort found guilty of 5 counts of tax fraud. Stay tuned for more…
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s legal team called 27 witnesses in the trial, including Manafort’s former business associate Rick Gates, who also worked on President Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016.
Gates entered a plea agreement earlier this year admitting to conspiracy and making false statements to federal investigators.
He has not yet been sentenced.
All the charges brought against Manafort and Gates are not related to their work on the Trump campaign, but they are connected to consulting work they did for Ukraine and other matters.
Fox News reported earlier on Tuesday that the 12 member jury had passed a note to presiding Judge T.S. Ellis asking, “If we cannot come to consensus on a single count…what does that mean for the final verdict?”
In the last hour:
Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort found guilty on 5 tax fraud charges, 1 charge of hiding foreign bank accounts, 2 counts bank fraud.
The judge responded that this would not be “exceptional” and said the jury could reach a “partial verdict.”
Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy told Fox News that Mueller’s team could retry Manafort on the counts to which the jury was not able to reach a verdict.
But, he added, “It’s always good news for the defense if the jury can’t resolve the case.”
In May, Ellis upbraided Mueller’s prosecutors suggesting they lied about the scope of the Russia investigation, and the true purpose of the criminal case against Manafort, which is to bring down Trump.
“You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort,” Ellis said. “You really care about what information Mr. Manafort can give you to lead you to Mr. Trump and an impeachment, or whatever.”
Renowned legal scholar Alan Dershowitz argued last month that Mueller is squeezing Manafort in hopes of making him “sing” or even “compose” against Trump.
“I used to teach my first year criminal law students that if you commit a crime in America always commit a crime with someone more important than you are so you can flip on them and they can’t flip on you. That’s what’s going on here,” Dershowitz said.
Manafort also faces charges in federal court in Washington, D.C., regarding failing to register as a foreign agent.
That trial is slated to start next month. (For more from the author of “Jury Reaches Verdict in Manafort Case” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/42774523542_88535fbb7c_b-1.jpg754880Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-08-21 22:24:022018-08-21 22:22:02Jury Reaches Verdict in Manafort Case
Paul Manafort’s lawyers asked a judge to acquit Manafort of all charges after prosecutors rested their case on Monday.
The judge is expected to hear full arguments on Tuesday, but Manafort’s lawyers gave a brief preview late in the day, before the judge closed the courtroom for arguments on a sealed matter also related to Manafort’s case.
Manafort is charged with bank fraud, filing false tax returns that underreported his income by millions of dollars, and failing to report numerous foreign bank accounts he controlled overseas. His lawyers argued Monday that the government failed to show banks relied on the allegedly false information that prosecutors say Manafort provided to prospective lenders.
And the defense generally contends prosecutors failed to show that Manafort acted with the required “willfulness” when it came to the tax and foreign bank account reporting charges.
The motion from Manafort’s lawyers will give US District Judge T.S. Ellis III an opportunity to consider the government’s evidence before it goes to the jury, although he can defer a decision until after the jury deliberates. Under the rules that govern criminal cases in the federal courts, judges can acquit a defendant if they find the evidence is insufficient. (Read more from “Paul Manafort’s Lawyers Are Asking for a Full Acquittal” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/42774523542_88535fbb7c_b.jpg754880Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2018-08-14 00:59:562018-08-14 00:58:48Paul Manafort’s Lawyers Are Asking for a Full Acquittal
By Politico. Lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are crying foul over a meeting Justice Department prosecutors held with four Associated Press reporters last year as news organizations and the FBI bore down on the longtime lobbyist and political consultant.
Manafort’s defense has argued for months that the off-the-record session on April 11, 2017, was a potential conduit for improper leaks to the press about the probe that led to two criminal cases against the former Trump campaign chief.
Now, Manafort’s attorneys have fresh evidence they say bolsters their claims: two memos written by FBI agents who attended the meeting and documented their version of what transpired.
Manafort’s legal team paints the evidence as confirmation that journalists were given inside information about the investigation in violation of Justice Department policies and, perhaps, legal prohibitions on disclosure of grand jury secrets. (Read more from “Journalistic Independence?! Associated Press Directly Conspired With FBI to Sink Manafort” HERE)
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Mueller’s ‘Pit Bull’ Arranged Meeting With Reporters to Discuss Manafort Investigation
By The Daily Caller. Justice Department documents released on Friday confirm that the DOJ attorney known as Robert Mueller’s “pit bull” arranged a meeting with journalists in April 2017 to discuss an investigation into Paul Manafort.
The documents show that Andrew Weissmann arranged a meeting with DOJ and FBI officials and four Associated Press reporters on April 11, 2017, just over a month before Mueller was appointed special counsel.
Manafort’s lawyers obtained the documents on June 29 and revealed them in a briefing filed in federal court in Virginia. The attorneys are pushing for a hearing into what they say are possible leaks of secret grand jury information, false information and potentially classified materials from the meeting.
“The meeting raises serious concerns about whether a violation of grand jury secrecy occurred,” a lawyer for Manafort, Kevin Downing, wrote in a motion requesting a hearing. “Based on the FBI’s own notes of the meeting, it is beyond question that a hearing is warranted.”
Manafort’s attorneys have for months questioned whether Weissmann, the number two official on the Mueller team, leaked information about Manafort to The AP. At the time of the meeting, Weissmann served as chief of the Justice Department’s criminal fraud section. (Read more from “Mueller’s ‘Pit Bull’ Arranged Meeting With Reporters to Discuss Manafort Investigation” HERE)
Legal experts greeted the indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a business associate with studied interest, saying that it was far too early to predict the final outcome of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
“It doesn’t reflect well, but it doesn’t impugn the [Trump] campaign, either,” said Scott Greenfield, a New York-based criminal defense attorney who told Fox News his reaction to the indictment was “a huge yawn.”
“For anyone who thought Mueller’s opening salvo would bring down Trump, the indictment is a huge disappointment,” Greenfield added.
Manafort and Rick Gates face 12 felony counts, including money laundering, conspiracy and acting as unregistered foreign agents. According to the indictment, which was unsealed Monday, the pair engaged in covert lobbying work for pro-Russian interests in Ukraine.
Andrew McCarthy, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney best known for prosecuting the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case, wrote on National Review Online Monday that the indictment was “much ado about nothing … except as a vehicle to squeeze Manafort.” In an addendum to his original article published Wednesday, McCarthy noted that the indictment does not accuse Manafort or Gates of tax law felonies or fraud. (Read more from “Manafort Indictment Reaction” HERE)
