State prosecutors in New York have charged Paul Manafort with mortgage fraud and other charges – in a sudden development that emerged just minutes after a federal judge handed down a sentence that could put him in prison for nearly seven years.
The charges were a stark reminder that even if President Trump were to pardon his longtime campaign chair for the federal charges he has been convicted of committing, he could still do time.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. revealed the charges in a 16-count indictment Wednesday afternoon.
The New York crimes Manafort is being charged with are residential mortgage fraud, conspiracy, falsifying records, and a scheme to defraud. The alleged scheme involved falsifying bank records in order to obtain big loans in a state where Manafort held property and did business.
'No one is beyond the law in New York,' Vance said in a statement announcing the charges. The state investigation had been ongoing, and was brought before a grand jury in New York.
The development came after a federal judge sentenced former Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort to an additional 43 months in prison Wednesday a – making a determination that could put him behind bars for nearly seven more years.
The latest charges were filed on March 7, the date last week when Manafort was sentenced in federal court in Virginia.
The latest legal chapter burst onto the scene just after Judge Amy Berman Jackson handed down the sentence at a dramatic hearing where she tore into Manafort for his deception, lack of remorse, and even his lavish spending habits.
BACK IN COURT: Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman,returned to federal court Wednesday for additional sentencing following a 47 month sentence in a federal court in Virginia
Manafort's wife, Kathleen, whom he had invoked in seeking leniency, had just left the courtroom when the latest legal blow struck.
The latest charges relate to loans Manafort received on a Howard St. condo in SoHo that was allegedly used to launder money.
Vance said the year-long investigation 'yielded serious criminal charges for which the defendant has not been held accountable.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors brought up loans at his earlier trial. The latest indictment includes emails seeking an appraisal and loan. The Mueller indictment states that Manafort got the apartment for $2.85 million transferring funds from a company in Cyprus, then falsely claimed it was a second home for his daughter and son-in-law, and used it as an Airbnb rental.
The New York indictment also references another element of Manafort's federal trial – his actions to wire funds from a Cyprus-based account as a reimbursement for Yankees season tickets.
According to the indictment, Manafort asked 'Individual 6' while in New York County to sign a letter stating: 'Thank you for allowing me to use the AMEX Business Plum card to purchase season tickets for the 2016 baseball season.'
Charges filed in New York mention the condo in SoHo for which Manafort obtained bank credit
Prosecutors described the transaction in Manafort's Virginia trial, saying Manafort got is deputy, Rick Gates, to sign the letter, at a time he was seeking millions in bank loans and making representations about his financial viability, Politico reported at the time.
The sentence adds an additional 3 1/2 years onto Manafort's jail time, through complicated calculations that involved some time served concurrently, and credit for time he has already served.
It comes on top of a 47 month sentence he got last week, a sentence that has been criticized as too lenient but that Jackson said did not affect her ruling. He may also get a reduction for good behavior.
Jackson's sentence exceeded that amount, totaling 60 months, minus 30 to be served concurrently with his other sentence.
The sentence could get a reduction of 15 per cent for good behavior.
Kathleen Manafort (2nd L), wife of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, leaves US District Court in Washington, DC on March 13, 2019 after her husband's sentencing
Defense attorney Kevin Downing speaks to reporters after his client, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, was sentenced to about 3-1/2 more years in prison, totaling more than six years, for charges arising from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election
Manafort said in federal court Wednesday he was 'sorry' for the crimes he admitted to – just a week after failing to express remorse in another court last week.
But Judge Jackson said there was 'no reason' to justify leniency that Manafort was seeking, tearing into the defendant's conduct as she prepared to announce her decision.
She said the 'element of remorse and responsibility were completely absent' from Manafort's filings. 'Saying I'm sorry I got caught is not an inspiring plea for leniency,' Judge Jackson said from the bench.
'It is hard to overstate the number of lies and the amount of fraud and the extraordinary amount of money involved,' Judge Jackson told her courtroom while Manafort's fate hung in the balance.
She accused Manafort of lying to members of Congress and the American public by failing to accurately disclose his overseas lobbying work.
The judge even brought up the 'opulent' lifestyle Manafort lived off monies he failed to report to tax authorities – even referencing his infamous $15,000 ostrich leather bomber jacket and other tailored garments submitted by prosecutors.
Manafort splurged on 'more suits than one man can wear,' she said.
'There's no question that this defendant knew better, and he knew exactly what he was doing,' said the judge.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, had to decide whether Manafort would serve his sentences in sequence or concurrently
Then she unloaded on him for witness tampering even after being charged with federal crimes.
'He pled guilty to conspiring to corruptly persuade another person — two people — with the intent to influence their testimony in an official proceeding. And which official proceeding? This one – the case against Mr. Manafort himself,' she said.
However the judge took pains to note that Manafort was not being sentenced for anything having to do with collusion in this case.
'The question of collusion or conspiracy with Russia was not presented in this case, therefore it was not resolved in this case,' she said, as her barbs filtered out of the courtroom.
She said of the Manafort's defense use of the 'no collusion' argument that it was 'just one more thing that's inconsistent with any genuine acceptance of responsibility.'
The statement comes amid one final potential play hanging in the background of Manafort's case – whether President Trump will issue a pardon that could let his former campaign chair out of prison at any point.
In a sharp line freighted with political implications in Washington, Judge Jackson said court is a place 'where facts still matter.'
Jackets included in the government's exhibits admitted into evidence, at the trial of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, are seen in this combination image of pictures released from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office in Washington, DC, U.S. on August 1, 2018
She said remorse was 'completely absent' from his submissions to the court, and called it 'striking' Manafort didn't submit a letter laying out a reason for contrition, adding that even defendants who haven't finished high school have done so, BuzzFeed reported.
Manafort's disclosure failures struck to the core of the U.S. democratic system, she argued.
'If the people don't have the facts, democracy can't work,' Judge Jackson said.
In another line, Judge Jackson appeared to rebut a statement by Judge T.S. Ellis that Manafort lived an 'otherwise blameless life.'
'The criminal conduct in this case was not an isolated, single incident,' she said, saying a significant amount of his career 'has been spent gaming the system.'
Manafort's courtroom expression of contrition was a turnaround from his earlier appearance, where he failed to express remorse while seeking 'compassion' – and ultimately earned a sentence far below what prosecutors were seeking anyway.
'I am sorry for what I've done,' Manafort said as he pleaded to limit his sentence and cited his own time in solitary confinement and his wife's health.
'Let me be very clear I accept the responsibility for the acts that caused me to be here today. While I cannot undo the past I can assure the future will be very different,' Manafort said, CNN reported.
He also played up his age as he begged to be with his wife, Kathleen, who was in the courtroom.
'Your honor, I will be 70 years old in a few weeks. My wife is 66. I am her primary caregiver,' Manafort said. 'This case has taken everything from me already. Please let my wife and I be together.'
'My behavior in the future will be very different. I have already begun to change,' he said.
Manafort appeared to try to get a do-over on his remarks last week seeking leniency.
'In my previous allocation I told Judge Ellis I was ashamed for my conduct,' he said. 'I want to say to you now that I am sorry for what I have done and for all the activities that have gotten me here today.'
Kathleen Manafort, wife of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, arrives at the US District Court in Washington, DC on March 13, 2019
The judge hearing the case was expected to tack additional prison time onto Manafort's sentence, after the former power broker managed to secure a sentence of 47 months in jail despite a recommendation by prosecutors he be put away for up to 24 years.
This time, he is being sentenced for two conspiracy counts, to which he has already pleaded guilty. But prosecutors also accuse him of lying in violation of his cooperation agreement, which could weigh on the outcome.
Manafort spoke after spending nine months in prison as his case made its way through the courts. Judge Jackson formalized the government's move to seize $11 million in assets from him.
At the top of Manafort's hearing, Judge Jackson, a Barack Obama appointee, acknowledged last week's sentencing, when Manafort avoided a sentence that could have put him away for the rest of his life.
'What's happening today is not and cannot be a review or revision of a sentence that was imposed in another court,' she said, the Washington Post reported. At the outset, she indicated that some of his sentence might be served concurrently since his Virginia sentence related to the conspiracy he was being sentenced for Wednesday.
'Whether he lied during his cooperation sessions and breached the plea agreement has some relevance,' she said, CNN reported.
Manafort's lawyers argued that he should get credit for having pleaded guilty.
'Your honor, our position is Mr. Manafort did accept responsibility,' lawyer Thomas Zehnle said. 'Did he truthfully admit the conduct comprising the offenses charged? He did.'
But prosecutors said Manafort lied to investigators 'repeatedly.' Some of the courtroom back-and-forth related to Konstantin Kilimnik, Manafort's former business associate who the special counsel's office says has ties to Russian intelligence.
And following last week's remark by Judge T.S. Ellis that Manafort had lived an 'otherwise blameless life,' prosecutors argued his crimes cut to the core of the democratic process.
'Mr. Manafort committed crimes that undermined our political process,' Prosecutor Andrew Weissman said, CNN reported. He highlighted Manafort's work for the pro-Moscow government in Ukraine, work he concealed by stashing earnings in offshore bank accounts.
'It is hard to imagine a more righteous prosecution of this act,' Weissman said.
Manafort faced a choice of whether to represent foreign governments 'or represent the United States. And he chose to represent foreign governments.'
As he did last week, Manafort appeared in court in a wheel chair. This time, he was wearing a suit. In Virginia, he wore a prison jump suit.
Manafort, 69, faces up to 10 additional years in prison when he is sentenced Wednesday in Washington in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
In Virginia last week, Judge Ellis sentenced Manafort to 47 months in prison, far below sentencing guidelines that allowed for more than two decades in prison, prompting national debate about disparities in how rich and poor defendants are treated by the criminal justice system.
Brian Ketcham(L) and Kevin Downing, lawyers for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, arrive at the US District Court in Washington, DC
As U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington decides whether the sentences should run consecutively or at the same time, she is likely to take into account allegations by prosecutors that Manafort tampered with witnesses after he was charged and that he lied to investigators even after he pleaded guilty and pledged to cooperate.
The hearing may offer a window into tantalizing allegations that aren't part of the criminal cases against him but have nonetheless surfaced in recent court filings - that Manafort shared Trump campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate the U.S. says has ties to Russian intelligence, and that the two men met secretly during the campaign in an encounter that prosecutors say cuts 'to the heart' of their investigation.
Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as his campaign manager Paul Manafort looks on during Trump's walk through at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, July 21, 2016
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors say Manafort lied despite his cooperation agreement
This handout image, obtained courtesy of the Alexandria Sheriff's Office, shows the July 12, 2018 booking photograph of Paul Manafort
WARDROBE UPGRADE: This March 7, 2019, courtroom sketch depicts former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, center in a wheelchair, during his sentencing hearing in federal court before judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria, Va. Manafort appeared in court in Washington wearing a suit
The sentencing hearings for Manafort mark a bookend of sorts for Mueller's investigation as it inches toward a conclusion. Manafort and business associate Rick Gates were among the first of 34 people charged, and though the charges against Manafort weren't tied to his work on the Trump campaign, his foreign entanglements have made him a subject of intrigue to prosecutors assessing whether the campaign colluded with Russia to sway the outcome of the election.
Judge T.S. Ellis noted during Manafort's sentencing in Virginia that in prior centuries 'they hung pickpockets' in Great Britain
Tarnished legacy: Paul Manafort Sr. was three-term mayor of New Britain, CT
A $15,000 ostrich-leather bomber jacket, included in the government's exhibits admitted into evidence, in Manafort's trial in Washington, D.C.
Wednesday's sentencing comes in a week of activity for the investigation. Mueller's prosecutors on Tuesday night updated a judge on the status of cooperation provided by one defendant, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and are expected to do the same later in the week for Gates.
The Mueller team has prosecuted Manafort in both Washington and Virginia related to his foreign consulting work on behalf of a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. Manafort was convicted of bank and tax fraud in the Virginia case and pleaded guilty in Washington to two conspiracy counts, each punishable by up to five years in prison.
The decision by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III to sentence Manafort to 47 months stunned many who'd been following the case given both the guideline calculation of 19.5 to 24 years in prison and the fact that the defendant was convicted of hiding millions of dollars from the IRS in undisclosed foreign bank accounts. But Ellis made clear during the sentencing hearing that he found the government's sentencing guidelines unduly harsh and declared his own sentence 'sufficiently punitive.'
'If anybody in this courtroom doesn't think so, go and spend a day in the jail or penitentiary of the federal government,' Ellis said. 'Spend a week there.'
Manafort has been jailed since last June when Berman Jackson revoked his house arrest over allegations that he and Kilimnik sought to influence witnesses by trying to get them to testify in a certain way.
ROBERT MUELLER'S PROBE SO FAR: EIGHT CONVICTIONS - INCLUDING THREE TOP TRUMP AIDES, A JAILED ATTORNEY AND 25 RUSSIANS ACCUSED
GUILTY: MICHAEL FLYNN
Pleaded guilty to making false statements in December 2017. Awaiting sentence
Flynn was President Trump's former National Security Advisor and Robert Mueller's most senior scalp to date. He previously served when he was a three star general as President Obama's director of the Defense Intelligence Agency but was fired.
He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his conversations with a Russian ambassador in December 2016. He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation.
GUILTY: MICHAEL COHEN
Pleaded guilty to eight counts including fraud and two campaign finance violations in August 2018. Pleaded guilty to further count of lying to Congress in November 2018. Sentenced to three years in prison and $2 million in fines and forfeitures in December 2018
Cohen was Trump's longtime personal attorney, starting working for him and the Trump Organization in 2007. He is the longest-serving member of Trump's inner circle to be implicated by Mueller. Cohen professed unswerving devotion to Trump - and organized payments to silence two women who alleged they had sex with the-then candidate: porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. He admitted that payments to both women were felony campaign finance violations - and admitted that he acted at the 'direction' of 'Candidate-1': Donald Trump.
He also admitted tax fraud by lying about his income from loans he made, money from taxi medallions he owned, and other sources of income, at a cost to the Treasury of $1.3 million.
And he admitted lying to Congress in a rare use of the offense. The judge in his case let him report for prison on March 6 and recommended he serve it in a medium-security facility close to New York City.
GUILTY AND JAILED: PAUL MANAFORT
Found guilty of eight charges of bank and tax fraud in August 2018. Sentenced to 47 months in March 2019. Pleaded guilty to two further charges - witness tampering and conspiracy against the United States. Awaiting sentence for those
Manafort worked for Trump's campaign from March 2016 and chaired it from June to August 2016, overseeing Trump being adopted as Republican candidate at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. He is the most senior campaign official to be implicated by Mueller. Manafort was one of Washington D.C.'s longest-term and most influential lobbyists but in 2015, his money dried up and the next year he turned to Trump for help, offering to be his campaign chairman for free - in the hope of making more money afterwards. But Mueller unwound his previous finances and discovered years of tax and bank fraud as he coined in cash from pro-Russia political parties and oligarchs in Ukraine.
Manafort pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of tax and bank fraud but was convicted of eight counts in August 2018. The jury was deadlocked on the other 10 charges. A second trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent due in September did not happen when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and witness tampering in a plea bargain. He was supposed to co-operate with Mueller but failed to.
GUILTY: RICK GATES
Pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and making false statements in February 2018. Awaiting sentence
Gates was Manafort's former deputy at political consulting firm DMP International. He admitted to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government on financial activity, and to lying to investigators about a meeting Manafort had with a member of congress in 2013. As a result of his guilty plea and promise of cooperation, prosecutors vacated charges against Gates on bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, failure to disclose foreign bank accounts, filing false tax returns, helping prepare false tax filings, and falsely amending tax returns.
GUILTY AND JAILED: GEORGE PAPADOPOLOUS
Pleaded guilty to making false statements in October 2017. Sentenced to 14 days in September 2018, and reported to prison in November. Served 12 days and released on December 7, 2018
Papadopoulos was a member of Donald Trump's campaign foreign policy advisory committee. He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about his contacts with London professor Josef Mifsud and Ivan Timofeev, the director of a Russian government-funded think tank.
He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation.
GUILTY AND JAILED: RICHARD PINEDO
Pleaded guilty to identity fraud in February 2018. Sentenced to a year in prison
Pinedo is a 28-year-old computer specialist from Santa Paula, California. He admitted to selling bank account numbers to Russian nationals over the internet that he had obtained using stolen identities.
He has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel investigation.
GUILTY AND JAILED: ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN
Pleaded guilty to making false statements in February 2018. He served a 30-day prison sentence and was deported to the Netherlands on his release
Van der Zwaan is a Dutch attorney for Skadden Arps who worked on a Ukrainian political analysis report for Paul Manafort in 2012.
He admitted to lying to special counsel investigators about when he last spoke with Rick Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik.
GUILTY: W. SAMUEL PATTEN
Pleaded guilty in August 2018 to failing to register as a lobbyist while doing work for a Ukrainian political party. Awaiting sentence
Patten, a long-time D.C. lobbyist was a business partner of Paul Manafort. He pleaded guilty to admitting to arranging an illegal $50,000 donation to Trump's inauguration.
He arranged for an American 'straw donor' to pay $50,000 to the inaugural committee, knowing that it was actually for a Ukrainian businessman.
Neither the American or the Ukrainian have been named.
CHARGED: KONSTANTIN KILIMNIK
Indicted for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. At large, probably in Russia
Kilimnik is a former employee of Manafort's political consulting firm and helped him with lobbying work in Ukraine. He is accused of witness tampering, after he allegedly contacted individuals who had worked with Manafort to remind them that Manafort only performed lobbying work for them outside of the U.S.
He has been linked to Russian intelligence and is currently thought to be in Russia - effectively beyond the reach of extradition by Mueller's team.
INDICTED: THE RUSSIANS
Twenty-five Russian nationals and three Russian entities have been indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States. They remain at large in Russia
Two of these Russian nationals were also indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 11 were indicted for conspiracy to launder money. Fifteen of them were also indicted for identity fraud.
Vladimir Putin has ridiculed the charges. Russia effectively bars extradition of its nationals. The only prospect Mueller has of bringing any in front of a U.S. jury is if Interpol has their names on an international stop list - which is not made public - and they set foot in a territory which extradites to the U.S.
INDICTED: MICHAEL FLYNN'S BUSINESS PARTNERS
Bijan Kian (left), number two in now disgraced former national security adviser Mike Flynn's lobbying company, and the two's business partner Ekim Alptekin (right) were indicted for conspiracy to lobby illegally. Kian is awaiting trial, Alptekin is still to appear in court
Kian, an Iranian-American was arrested and appeared in court charged with a conspiracy to illegally lobby the U.S government without registering as a foreign agent. Their co-conspirator was Flynn, who is called 'Person A' in the indictment and is not charged, offering some insight into what charges he escaped with his plea deal.
Kian, vice-president of Flynn's former lobbying firm, is alleged to have plotted with Alptekin to try to change U.S. policy on an exiled Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and who is accused by Turkey's strongman president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of trying to depose him.
Erdogan's government wanted him extradited from the U.S. and paid Flynn's firm through Alptekin for lobbying, including an op-ed in The Hill calling for Gulen to be ejected. Flynn and Kian both lied that the op-ed was not paid for by the Turkish government.
The indictment is a sign of how Mueller is taking an interest in more than just Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
INDICTED: ROGER STONE
Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign official and longtime informal advisor to Trump, was indited on seven counts including obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and lying to Congress about his communications with WikiLeaks in January 2019. Awaiting trial
Stone was a person of interest to Mueller's investigators long before his January indictment, thanks in part due to his public pronouncements as well as internal emails about his contacts with WikiLeks.
In campaign texts and emails, many of which had already been publicly revealed before showing up in Mueller's indictment, Stone communicated with associates about WikiLeaks following reports the organization had obtained a cache of Clinton-related emails.
Stone, a former Nixon campaign adviser who has the disgraced former president's face permanently tattooed on his back, has long been portrayed as a central figure in the election interference scandal, but as recently as January 4 told Dailymail.com that he doesn't expect to be indicted.
'They got nothing,' he said of the special counsel's investigation.
According to the federal indictment, Stone gave 'false and misleading' testimony about his requests for information from WikiLeaks. He then pressured a witness, comedian Randy Credico, to take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify, and pressured him in a series of emails. Following a prolonged dispute over testimony, he called him a 'rat' and threatened to 'take that dog away from you', in reference to Credico's pet, Bianca. Stone warned him: 'Let's get it on. Prepare to die.'
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/13/paul-manafort-indicted-by-state-prosecutors-on-fraud-charges/
Main photo article State prosecutors in New York have charged Paul Manafort with mortgage fraud and other charges – in a sudden development that emerged just minutes after a federal judge handed down a sentence that could put him in prison for nearly seven years.
The charges were a stark reminder that even if P...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/13/10/wire-10925368-1552472367-908_634x422.jpg
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