Manafort Reaches Plea Deal to Avoid Second Trial
Paul Manafort, the political consultant and one-time campaign manager for then-candidate Donald Trump, has apparently reached a plea deal to avoid his second trial in Virginia.
#BREAKING: @NBCNews has learned former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has agreed with federal prosecutors to plead guilty pic.twitter.com/ked4u2wQh6
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 14, 2018
Manafort, who was set to begin jury selection for a second federal criminal trial next Monday, was charged in a superseding criminal information in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
That charging document alleges Manafort engaged in a conspiracy involving money laundering, tax fraud, failing to report foreign bank accounts, violating rules requiring registration of foreign agents, lying and witness tampering.
Criminal informations are routinely filed in federal cases when a defendant has agreed to plead guilty. The charging document will replace an indictment that had been pending against Manafort in Washington court.
Manafort, 69, is scheduled to appear later Friday morning in court. It is not clear if he will enter his plea then, or later.
Mueller’s office, in a prepared statement said, “Additional information will be provided in the near future.”
Manafort was convicted last month at his first trial in federal court in Virginia on charges that included bank and tax fraud. He has been held in jail since June after Mueller accused him in the Washington case of trying to tamper with witnesses against him.
The whole Mueller process reminds me very much of watching the local AGs roll up one of the mob families during the time I lived in New Jersey (1978-88). A colleague sat on a grand jury for a year during one of those. While he couldn’t provide details, he said he was always impressed by how methodically (and slowly) the investigators built the structure of the case that eventually took the top guy down.Report
Mueller cut his teeth on the mob, and wake back when he was first staffing up you had people pointing out he was approaching this like a mob case.
As to the plea, I understand Mueller played hardball — that 45+ million in assets was seized under civil forfeiture, as they were proceeds of a crime. Trump could issue him a blanket pardon and he won’t get it back. (Although I wonder if Trump could pardon the house….or the clothes…).
In short, a guy that turned to tax evasion and money laundering because he couldn’t live on a a million a year when he was used to the tens of million a year lifestyle had virtually every prized possession taken away, by his own agreement.
Four houses, everything in them, a dozen bank accounts…it’s possible he’s got a lot more salted away, but I doubt it. You don’t turn to bush league tax evasion and bank fraud schemes because you’ve got a lot of money stashed away for a rainy day.Report