Paul Manafort appeared in federal court in Virginia Thursday and pleaded not guilty to tax and fraud charges brought against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia investigation.
WaPo:
Paul J. Manafort last week also pleaded not guilty in a related case in Washington, D.C., where he is set to go to trial Sept. 17. Manafort lives in Virginia and was indicted there in February.
During the Thursday hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Judge T.S. Ellis III put Manafort on home confinement, requiring him to wear a GPS bracelet, and set a trial date for July 10. It is expected to last eight to 10 days.
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Both indictments accuse Manafort of hiding the work he did for and the money he made from a Russia-friendly political party in Ukraine and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
In Washington, Manafort faces counts of conspiracy to launder more than $30 million, making false statements, failing to follow lobbying disclosure laws and working as an unregistered foreign agent.
In Virginia, he is accused of hiding foreign bank accounts, falsifying his income taxes and failing to report foreign bank accounts.
Manafort also faces bank fraud charges in Virginia not directly related to his work in Ukraine. After his business there dried up, according to prosecutors, Manafort fraudulently secured over $20 million in loans in part by using his real estate as collateral.
In court Thursday, prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said he expects to call twenty to twenty-five witnesses. But, he said, “I don’t think it’s complicated.”
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If convicted of bank fraud in Virginia, Manafort faces up to 270 years in prison, but prosecutors say federal sentencing guidelines call for much less time: four to five years. He faces up to 15 years on the charges of filing false tax returns and up to 20 years on the charges of failing to report foreign bank accounts. Guidelines call for about eight to 10 years, though.
Read more: Paul Manafort pleads not guilty to tax and fraud charges in Virginia court (WaPo)