Convicted Felon Paul Manafort Indicted On New Fraud Charges In New York

Paul Manafort heading to court last June

Less than an hour after he was sentenced in a separate case in DC, the Manhattan DA has indicted former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort on charges of mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies. This is particularly notable because presidential pardon power does not extend to convictions at the state level.

Manafort was hit with 16 charges in the indictment (you can read it here) for an alleged year-long scheme in which he is accused of falsifying business records to illegally obtain millions of dollars in loans.

"No one is beyond the law in New York," said District Attorney Cy Vance in a statement. "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."

Manafort, 69, could face up to 25 years in New York state prison if convicted of the most serious charges in the new indictment.

Earlier today, Manafort was sentenced in DC on "two conspiracy counts that encompassed a host of crimes, including money-laundering, obstruction of justice and failing to disclose lobbying work that earned him tens of millions of dollars over more than a decade."

"It is hard to overstate the number of lies and the amount of fraud and the amount of money involved,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson said of Manafort's crimes. "There is no question that this defendant knew better and he knew what he was doing."

She ultimately sentenced him to 43 months in prison; that is on top of the 47 months he was sentenced to last week for multiple felony crimes in a separate case. Altogether, that brings his prison sentence to a total of 7 1/2 years, to be served in Virginia and DC, in cases brought by Robert Mueller's office. This of course excludes any prison time that could result from this NY case.

The Atlantic previously noted that there are still tons of unanswered questions about Manafort's time at the helm of Trump's campaign left.