New York prosecutors wanting to file state mortgage-fraud charges against Paul Manafort say their case is much different from one that sent President Trump’s former campaign chairman to federal prison and should not have been thrown out.
The appeal, which was filed to the Appellate Division in April but made publicly available Thursday, argues that Manafort’s case should be exempt from state double jeopardy, which does not allow the prosecution of a person twice for the same offense, because of the different aspects of the crimes committed in the federal case, which ended with Manafort convicted on eight counts of tax and bank fraud and a hung jury on 10 other counts.
Judge Maxwell Wiley threw out a state indictment against Manafort on December 19 last year after finding state law did not permit his prosecution — as some of the same issues were adjudicated in his federal trial.
Manhattan prosecutors announced a litany of charges against the disgraced ex-Trump campaign boss in March 2019 just minutes after he was sentenced to 7 ½ years behind bars.
Manafort was convicted in Manhattan federal court for crimes relating to his shady consulting work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine uncovered by former special counsel Robert Mueller.
Among other charges, prosecutors at the Manhattan DA’s office have accused Manafort of fraudulently obtaining over $19 million in residential mortgage loans and a $1 million line of credit, starting in 2015 and continuing until three days before Trump’s inauguration in 2017. He was also charged with falsifying business records and conspiracy
The appeal states that “key differences” between Manafort’s state and federal case make clear the indictment is not barred by the double jeopardy statute.
The Appellate Division has not yet ruled on the appeal.
Manafort, 71, was freed from prison just over a year into his term in light of fears over the coronavirus pandemic. On May 19, he was released from a federal prison in Pennsylvania and ordered to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement.