Paul Manafort's week just keeps getting worse, guys.
Last week he was sentenced in his VA trial to just under 4 years. And today he was sentenced to another 47 months in his DC case. Well, just moments after that sentence came down, Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan District Attorney, posted this tweet:
And you better believe the timing was intentional.
The statement from the D.A.'s office reads:
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. today announced the indictment of PAUL MANAFORT, 69, for a yearlong residential mortgage fraud scheme through which MANAFORT and others falsified business records to illegally obtain millions of dollars. MANAFORT is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment filed on March 7, 2019, with Residential Mortgage Fraud in the First Degree, Attempted Residential Mortgage Fraud in the First Degree, Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree.[1]
“No one is beyond the law in New York,” said District Attorney Vance. “Following an investigation commenced by our Office in March 2017, a Manhattan grand jury has charged Mr. Manafort with state criminal violations which strike at the heart of New York’s sovereign interests, including the integrity of our residential mortgage market. I thank our prosecutors for their meticulous investigation, which has yielded serious criminal charges for which the defendant has not been held accountable.”
Read the full indictment here.
Long story short: Even if Donald Trump pardons Paul Manafort for his federal crimes, he is facing state charges that cannot be pardoned. And if there is any overlap in the charges, then accepting a pardon (ie admitting guilt) would mean he could not plead not guilty to the state charges.
Many were disappointed in the paltry 7.5 years Manafort got for his 2 federal trials, but with these new state charges (and there is no rule that says he can't be charged in other states as well - and he lived in Virginia and Florida) - he is almost guaranteed to never be a free man again.
ENJOY PRISON!
