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Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s Former Campaign Chairman, Is Found Guilty on Eight Financial Crime Counts

Paul Manafort
Paul ManafortPatrick Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman was found guilty on eight counts of financial crimes by a federal jury in Virginia on Tuesday, August 21, during the first trial in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

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Manafort, 69, faces a maximum of 80 years in jail after being found guilty on five tax fraud counts, two counts of bank fraud and one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts, according to CNN.

The outlet reports that prosecutor Greg Andres spoke out during the closing arguments and stated: “Mr. Manafort lied to keep more money when he had it, and he lied to get more money when he didn’t. This is a case about lies.”

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The Connecticut native also faced 10 other charges in which no verdicts could be reached and the judge declared a mistrial on those counts.

The judge did not set a sentencing date and has given prosecutors until August 29 to decide whether to retry Manafort on the 10 deadlock charges.

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Manafort is also set to face a second trial next month in Washington, D.C. regarding related charges that include allegations he lied to the FBI.

The charges against Manafort — which include conspiracy against the United States and to launder money, failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts and more — were announced in October 2017.

Manafort pled not guilty to all charges during his first court appearance in October and agreed to home detention but his $10 million bail was revoked and he was ordered jail in June after he was charged with witness tampering. Trump tweeted at the time that Manafort’s jailing was “very unfair.”

The New York Times reported in October that the indictment stated: “Between at least 2006 and 2015, Manafort and [his business partner Rick] Gates acted as unregistered agents of the Government of Ukraine, the Party of Regions, a Ukrainian political party whose leader Victor Yanukovych was president from 2010 to 2014, and the Opposition Bloc. Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars in income as a result of their work in Ukraine.”

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