Washington: In a second blow to United States President Donald Trump, a Virginia court on Tuesday found the former’s ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty on eight charges, including tax fraud.
While the jury found Manafort guilty on five charges of filing false income tax returns, including for failing to report foreign bank accounts and on two counts of bank fraud, the judge declared a mistrial on the remaining 10 counts, including three counts of failing to report foreign bank accounts, five counts of bank fraud conspiracy and two counts of bank fraud.
Failure to report foreign bank accounts attracts a maximum of five years’ imprisonment, while each count of bank fraud accounts to a maximum sentence of 30 years.
Interacting with reporters outside the courtroom, Manafort’s lead defense attorney Kevin Downing said his client was “disappointed” by the verdict and was evaluating all of his options.
“Manafort is disappointed in not getting acquittals all the way through or complete hung jury on all count. However, he would like to thank Judge Ellis for granting him a fair trial, thank the jury for their very long and hard-fought deliberations. He is evaluating all of his options at this point,” The Hill quoted Downing as saying.
The report also said that Trump, who is currently in West Virginia, called the prosecution of Manafort “unfair.”
Earlier, Trump’s former attorney Micheal Cohen pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in connection with eight criminal charges, including paying adult-film star Stormy Daniels as part of a non-disclosure agreement over her affair with the US President in 2006.
The announcement of Cohen’s sentence is scheduled for December 12 by Judge William H. Pauley and is expected to include jail time and a monetary fine.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]