Trump aide Manafort found guilty on eight of 18 charges

 

ARLINGTON: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty on Tuesday on eight charges of tax and bank fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts after a jury said it could not reach consensus on the other 10 charges against him.

The jury, after almost four days of deliberations, found Manafort guilty of two of nine bank fraud charges, all five tax fraud charges he faced and one of four charges of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.

Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on 10 of the 18 counts after the jury told him it could not reach a verdict on those charges.

The trial of Manafort, a veteran Republican operative, is the first stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s role in the 2016 US election. The charges against Manafort largely predate his work on President Donald Trump’s successful campaign.

Prosecutors accused Manafort, 69, of hiding from US tax authorities $16 million he earned as a political consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine to fund an opulent lifestyle and then lying to banks to secure $20 million in loans after his Ukrainian income dried up and he needed cash.

The verdicts completed a stunning fall for Manafort, a once-powerful political fixer and consultant and well-known figure in Republican politics for decades.

While Trump has sought to play down his connections to him, Manafort worked for five months on Trump’s 2016 campaign during a pivotal period in the presidential race, including three months as chairman.