Preliminary Verdict in Manafort Case: Guilty on 8 Criminal Charges

 

It took four days of debating for the jury to deliver a preliminary verdict in the case of Paul Manafort. He is considered guilty in 8 out of 18 charges, which include tax evasion, concealment of foreign accounts and bank fraud.

“You may have heard that the jury reached a verdict on only eight of the eighteen counts. On ten of those counts they did not reach a verdict. Mr. Manafort is disappointed in not getting acquittals all the way through, or a complete hung jury on all counts. However, he would like to thank Judge Ellis for granting him a fair trial. We thank the jury for their very long and hard fought deliberations,” Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing said.

Since 2006, Manafort, an American lawyer and political consultant, was working for the Party of Regions in Ukraine. He was working on raising ratings of the party in Ukraine and lobbying its interests in the US and Europe. He also developed a campaign strategy for Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort called the victorious 2010 presidential campaign of Yanukovych the best campaign in his career in a letter to the campaign HQ.

“Having work campaigns for the last 35 years, this will be at the top of the list of most satisfying. So, thank you for all that you sacrificed and the work that you contributed,” he wrote.

According to the investigation, Manafort received $ 60 million, of which – only $14 million were declared for all the work he did for Party of Regions. Ukrainian officials were also involved in the case. In violation of Ukrainian legislation, they directly paid Manafort for his services as a political consultant. Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said, that these violations are now being investigated by the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine.

President Donald Trump, whose presidential campaign of 2016 was led by Manafort, spoke after the court’s decision claiming that the charges against Manafort were groundless and again stating his often repeated phrase that there was “no collusion” between himself and the Russian Federation in the 2016 presidential election.

New charges were pressed, among them, Manafort’s involvement in Russia’s interference in the American elections and lobbying Russian interests.

Manafort pleaded not guilty, and refused to testify in court. The jury will resume debates on 10 more criminal charges on August 29.