Manafort to face charges in N.Y.

Manhattan DA preparing criminal case, sources claim

In this May 23, 2018 file photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the Federal District Court after a hearing in Washington.
In this May 23, 2018 file photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the Federal District Court after a hearing in Washington.

NEW YORK -- The Manhattan district attorney's office is preparing state criminal charges against Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.

The charges will be designed to ensure that Manafort will still face prison time even if the president pardons him for his federal crimes, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

Manafort is to be sentenced next month for convictions in two federal cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. He faces up to 25 years in prison for tax and bank fraud and additional time for conspiracy counts in a related case. It could effectively be a life sentence for Manafort, who turns 70 in April.

The president has broad power to issue pardons for federal crimes, but no such authority in state cases. And while there has been no indication that Trump intends to pardon Manafort, the president has spoken repeatedly of his pardon power and defended his former campaign chairman on a number of occasions, calling him a "brave man."

Meanwhile, Mueller faced a Friday deadline to weigh in on Manafort's punishment in one of his two federal cases. Analysts hoped the recommendation could shed more light on how Manafort fits into Mueller's larger investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

In recent weeks, court papers have revealed that Manafort shared polling data related to the Trump campaign with an associate the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

A Mueller prosecutor also said earlier this month that an August 2016 meeting between Manafort and the associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, goes to the "heart" of the Russia probe. The meeting involved a discussion of a Ukrainian peace plan, but prosecutors haven't said exactly what has captivated their attention and whether it factors into the Kremlin's attempts to help Trump in the 2016 election.

Like other Americans close to the president charged in the Mueller probe, Manafort hasn't been accused of being involved in Russian election interference. His criminal case in Washington stems from illegal lobbying he carried out on behalf of Ukrainian interests. As part of a plea deal in the case, Manafort admitted to one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Prosecutors aren't expected to recommend leniency because a judge found earlier this month that Manafort lied to investigators after agreeing to cooperate.

Each count carries a maximum of five years in prison, a much lower potential punishment than in Manafort's separate tax and bank fraud case in Virginia. A jury convicted Manafort of eight felony counts last year, and Mueller's team endorsed a sentence of between 19.5 and 24.5 years in prison in that case.

Manafort will have a chance to file his own sentencing recommendation next week. He is set to be sentenced March 8 in Virginia and March 13 in Washington.

On the state level, the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., first began investigating Manafort in 2017 for loans he received from two banks. Those loans were also the subject of some of the counts in the federal indictment that led to his conviction last year. But the state prosecutors deferred their inquiry in order not to interfere with Mueller's investigation.

They resumed their investigation in recent months, and a state grand jury began hearing evidence in the case, several people with knowledge of the matter said. The panel is expected to wrap up its work in the coming weeks, several of the people said, and prosecutors likely will ask the grand jurors to vote on charges shortly thereafter.

Vance's office is expected to seek charges whether or not the president pardons Manafort. The plan was first reported by Bloomberg.

Manafort's defense team is likely to challenge any charges brought by Vance's office on double jeopardy grounds. New York state law includes stronger protections than those provided by the U.S. Constitution. But prosecutors in Vance's office have expressed confidence that they would prevail, the people said.

Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort, said his legal team had no comment. Vance's office also had no comment.

It is unclear what charges Manafort would face on the state level, but they could include three state felonies: falsifying business records, if the evidence shows Manafort used the loan money for an unauthorized purpose; mortgage fraud; and tax evasion.

Information for this article was contributed by William K. Rashbaum of The New York Times; and by Chad Day and Eric Tucker of The Associated Press.

A Section on 02/23/2019

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