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| Paul Manafort’s fraud case in New York was dismissed, blocking local prosecutors’ effort to undercut a potential Trump pardon | Paul Manafort’s fraud case in New York was dismissed, blocking local prosecutors’ effort to undercut a potential Trump pardon |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| NEW YORK — A state court judge in Manhattan dismissed Paul Manafort’s residential mortgage fraud case Wednesday, deciding the local charges against President Trump’s former campaign chairman amounted to a double-jeopardy violation. | NEW YORK — A state court judge in Manhattan dismissed Paul Manafort’s residential mortgage fraud case Wednesday, deciding the local charges against President Trump’s former campaign chairman amounted to a double-jeopardy violation. |
| Manafort, 70, who was previously convicted in a pair of federal cases related to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of election interference in 2016, was hospitalized in recent days and did not appear in court. He was sentenced in March to 7 1/2 years in prison and has been incarcerated at a federal facility in Pennsylvania. | |
| Paul Manafort hospitalized in stable condition, attorney says | Paul Manafort hospitalized in stable condition, attorney says |
| Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley said state law prohibits the type of case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in an effort to ensure Manafort would be held accountable and remain in custody should Trump move to issue a pardon for the federal convictions. With limited exceptions, the premise of double jeopardy prevents multiple prosecutions stemming from the same crimes. | |
| “Basically, the law of double jeopardy in New York State provides a very narrow window for prosecution,” Wiley said at the brief court proceeding. He issued a 26-page ruling detailing his finding. | |
| Manafort was tapped to serve as chairman in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in March of that year and held the role until August. In that time, he had extensive contacts with influential Russians and Ukrainians, and was involved in Ukrainian politics into 2018, after he was indicted by Mueller, authorities have said. | |
| He has admitted to violating foreign lobby laws. | |
| Trump watched the proceedings closely and has suggested he sympathized with Manafort, though the president has not said publicly that he would pardon him. | |
| Paul Manafort sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison for conspiracy and fraud, and charged with mortgage fraud in N.Y. | |
| Prosecutors had made technical arguments to explain why the case should beat a double-jeopardy challenge, saying there were “fresh elements” that overlapped with Manafort’s February 2018 indictment for bank fraud in the Eastern District of Virginia. The jury on that case was undecided on seven counts — later dismissed as part of a plea deal — making them fair game for Manhattan prosecutors to charge the corresponding crimes at the state level, the DA’s office argued. | |
| Wiley, the judge, decided that the leftover counts from Virginia were “previously prosecuted” and that a new case based on the same conduct is prohibited. He wrote in his decision that the DA’s office disregarded the “clear meaning” of the Virginia judge’s words when he formally dismissed the counts last year. While prosecutors did demonstrate there were new elements at play, they failed to show that their case represented “very different kinds of harms or evils,” Wiley decided. | |
| Manafort’s lawyers had argued that the Republican political consultant embroiled in the 2016 election scandal was already charged and convicted of the same crimes in one of his federal cases — a tax and bank fraud case tried in federal court in Alexandria, Va. | |
| He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction charges in September 2018. Todd Blanche, a lawyer for Manafort, argued in court papers that the local case was unconstitutional. | |
| The district attorney’s office said that Manafort defrauded two banks — Citizen Bank and Federal Savings — to obtain loans for properties in New York City and Long Island. | The district attorney’s office said that Manafort defrauded two banks — Citizen Bank and Federal Savings — to obtain loans for properties in New York City and Long Island. |
| Danny Frost, a spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said litigation would continue. | Danny Frost, a spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said litigation would continue. |
| “We will appeal today’s decision and will continue working to ensure that Mr. Manafort is held accountable for the criminal conduct against the People of New York that is alleged in the indictment,” Frost said in statement issued after the ruling. | “We will appeal today’s decision and will continue working to ensure that Mr. Manafort is held accountable for the criminal conduct against the People of New York that is alleged in the indictment,” Frost said in statement issued after the ruling. |