US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been found guilty on eight fraud charges, including five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to report a foreign bank account, and is facing a potential jail sentence
Manafort’s convictions following a trial in a federal court in Virginia arose from an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
During the trial, prosecutors said Manafort, a long-time Republican political lobbyist, had lied to banks in seeking personal loans and lied to the Internal Revenue Service in reporting income related to his political consulting work in Ukraine and elsewhere.
The prosecution claimed Manafort became involved in tax evasion once his income from his work in Ukraine started to dry up. The money was used on numerous luxury items, including real estate, bespoke suits, and a $15,000 (£11,640) ostrich jacket.
Manafort is scheduled to face a second trial in a separate case in Washington DC in September, relating to charges of conspiracy to launder tens of millions of dollars in overseas earnings, failing to register as a foreign agent and making false statements.
Kevin Downing, Manafort’s lawyer, said the lobbyist is ‘evaluating all of his options’ and was ‘disappointed of not getting acquittals all the way through or a complete hung jury on all counts’.
Report by Pat Sweet
