Moments after a federal judge handed down a second prison sentence to Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager discovered his legal woes were far from over: Prosecutors in Manhattan have now indicted Manafort on 16 felony charges in New York state.
Paul Manafort indicted in New York state on 16 charges
The charges announced by the Manhattan district attorney are presidential pardon-proof.
Jen Kirby is a senior foreign and national security reporter at Vox, where she covers global instability.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced 16 charges against Manafort, including residential mortgage fraud and falsifying business records to commit fraud. The indictment alleges Manafort engaged in a yearlong scheme in which he lied on mortgage applications to obtain loans.
The charges in New York state guard against any potential pardon that President Donald Trump might attempt to give Manafort now that he has been sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison in two cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump can issue pardons for federal crimes. But, if Manafort is convicted in New York, Trump has no authority to grant clemency for state and local crimes.
“No one is beyond the law in New York,” Vance said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the investigation into Manafort’s activities began in March 2017.
“I thank our prosecutors for their meticulous investigation,” he said, “which has yielded serious criminal charges for which the defendant has not been held accountable.”
Read the indictment at this link.
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