President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman was found guilty Tuesday on eight counts of financial crimes, including five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failing to disclose his foreign bank accounts. Because the jury was unable to reach a verdict on 10 of the 18 counts against Paul Manafort, Judge T.S. Ellis III declared a mistrial on the 10 unresolved counts but has accepted guilty verdicts on the remaining eight counts.
In October 2017, Paul Manafort and former Trump campaign associate Rick Gates were indicted on 12 counts, including money laundering, acting as unregistered agents of the Ukrainian government, and tax fraud. On February 22, the office of special counsel Robert Mueller indicted Manafort and Gates with 32 counts, including 16 counts related to false individual income tax returns, seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts, five counts of bank fraud conspiracy, and four counts of bank fraud.
On February 23, Gates pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to the Special Counsel’s Office and one count of conspiracy against the United States. In exchange for his plea agreement, Gates testified against Manafort and admitted to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort.
During this trial, Manafort faced 18 counts, including five counts related to false income tax returns, four counts of failing to file foreign bank account reports, four counts of bank fraud, and five counts of bank fraud conspiracy. On Tuesday, Manafort was found guilty of five tax fraud charges, two counts of bank fraud, and one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts.
Manafort faces a maximum of 80 years in prison for his recent conviction. He will face a second set of criminal charges regarding his failure to register his foreign lobbying and alleged involvement in a Ukrainian money laundering conspiracy at another federal trial in Washington, D.C.
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