Guilty and Cooperating

News  |  Sep 14, 2018

UPDATE 2: The special counsel's office has posted all relevant documents to its site and noted a Manafort sentencing update is scheduled for November 16th. 

Paul J. Manafort, Jr., of Alexandria, Va., pleaded guilty today to a superseding criminal information filed today in the District of Columbia, which includes conspiracy against the United States (conspiracy to commit money laundering, tax fraud, failing to file Foreign Bank Account Reports and Violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and lying and misrepresenting to the Department of Justice) and conspiracy to obstruct justice (witness tampering). A status report with regard to sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 16, 2018.

Superseding Criminal Information

Exhibits

Plea Agreement

Statement of the Offense

The plea agreement sets forth the extent of cooperation the special counsel expects from Manafort. It reads as follows: 

cooperation

 

cooperation 2

U.S. v. Paul J. Manafort, Jr. (1:17-cr-201, District of Columbia) (Special Counsel's Office)


UPDATE: From CNN's justice team:

tweet

Bloomberg Politics:

Paul Manafort relented to a year of withering legal pressure by pleading guilty to charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and is providing some cooperation with the U.S. Justice Department

It wasn’t immediately clear the extent of his assistance, but prosecutors said the dismissal of any remaining charges would wait until his sentencing or successful cooperation.

Manafort, at a hearing in Washington on Friday, admitted to several crimes he was already convicted of in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, including that he spent untaxed income on real estate, custom suits and luxury cars. He told the court that he laundered more than $30 million earned as a consultant while working for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine, cheated the government of $15 million in taxes and tampered with a witness.

(...)

Manafort admitted he broke the law -- a concession he refused to make since he was charged almost a year ago in Washington. Manafort faces up to a decade in prison after the Virginia jury verdict, and a conviction in Washington could have increased his prison time. He could also get a pardon from Trump, which would set off a political firestorm.

NBC News

In August, Trump praised Manafort for having "refused to break" in order to get a deal, and said he had "such respect for a brave man."

Friday morning's hearing at the federal courthouse in Washington was originally a pre-trial conference but was officially redesignated an "arraignment and plea agreement hearing."

(...)

Upon entering his guilty plea, Manafort will forfeit three properties in New York — his home in the Hamptons, a property in Manhattan on Howard Street, and a property in Brooklyn — as well as a property on Edgewood Street in Arlington, Virginia, according to the filing.

In addition, Manafort will forfeit all funds contained in four bank accounts, as well as a life insurance policy.

The White House has responded:

sanders statement

The statement ignores the reality that Manafort was Trump's campaign chairman and he and the president have known each other since Trump hired Manafort to lobby for him in the 1980s. 

Rudy Giuliani is taking a similar stance as the White House:

santucci

Some more courtroom color from The Washington Post's justice reporter:

color

Developing ... 

Manafort’s Guilty Plea Includes Some Cooperation With U.S. (Bloomberg Politics)

Manafort pleads guilty in Mueller probe, will cooperate with prosecutors (NBC News)


Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office has filed a superseding criminal information in D.C. court today in the case against Paul Manafort "which alleges a conspiracy against the United States (money laundering, tax fraud, failing to file Foreign Bank Account Reports, violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and lying and misrepresenting to the Department of Justice) and a conspiracy to obstruct justice (witness tampering)."

The 76-page document includes government evidence and lays out how, exactly, Trump's campaign chairman broke the law.

Manafort will plead guilty in federal court Friday morning to two of the seven charges he faced had he gone to trial. He will have to forfeit property and assets obtained with the money he gained and hid illegally. 

Washington Post:

It was not immediately clear if, as part of the plea deal, Manafort would cooperate and provide any information to the special counsel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

People familiar with the plea discussions have previously said that Manafort has no intention of cooperating with Mueller, so it’s possible any prospective agreement could allow him to admit guilt without providing information to investigators.

(...)

The filing also offers new details about the various ways in which Manafort sought to surreptitiously lobby the U.S. government and influence American public opinion toward Ukraine.

In 2012, Manafort set out to help his client, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, by tarnishing the reputation of Yanukovych’s political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, according to the document.

“Manafort stated that ‘[m]y goal is to plant some stink on Tymo’,” according to the document. At the time he made that statement, he was trying to get U.S. news outlets to print stories that Tymoshenko had paid for the murder of a Ukrainian official, according to the criminal information.

The document also says Manafort “orchestrated a scheme to have, as he wrote in a contemporaneous communication, ‘[O]bama jews’ put pressure on the administration to disavow Tymoshenko and support Yanukovych,” the document said.

Manafort set out to spread stories in the U.S. that a senior American Cabinet official “was supporting anti-Semitism because the official supported Tymoshenko,” according to the document. “At one point, Manafort wrote to an associate, “I have someone pushing it on the NY Post. Bada bing bada boom.” The document does not identify the then-Cabinet official and it wasn’t immediately clear if any such story was published.

As part of his deal, the government plans to seize four properties, including a nearly $2 million house in Arlington, Virginia, owned by one of Manafort’s daughters. The deal also calls for forfeiture of four financial accounts and a life insurance policy.

(...)

It is unclear how a guilty plea might alter his ultimate sentence, and some lawyers have questioned whether he is focused on winning a reprieve elsewhere. Law enforcement officials have come to suspect that Manafort hopes he will be pardoned by the president, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

Trump has sought advice from his attorneys on the possibility of pardoning Manafort and other aides accused of crimes, his attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani previously told The Washington Post, and was counseled against pardoning anyone involved in the ongoing Mueller probe. The president agreed to wait at least until the investigation concludes, Giuliani has said.

Manafort plans to plead guilty to second set of charges (WaPo)

Superseding criminal information against Paul J. Manafort