A New York judge threw out mortgage fraud charges against Paul Manafort on Wednesday on double jeopardy grounds, ruling that President Donald Trump ‘s former campaign chairman could not be charged again with financial crimes he’d already been tried for in federal court. This is a decision that could pave the way for a presidential pardon, according to The Washington Post .
Judge Maxwell Wiley ruled that the charges from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance overlapped with various bank fraud charges that Manafort faced in federal court last year. The former campaign head was convicted on some of those charges and sentenced to more than seven years in prison.
Manafort, 70, had faced charges of conspiracy, mortgage fraud and falsifying business records in the case, which was filed by Vance immediately after the longtime Republican operative was sentenced earlier this year on federal charges.
In a 26-page ruling issued by Wiley on Wednesday, the judge noted that all the federal indictments against Manafort were “based on the same acts and transactions” that New York prosecutors brought against him.
Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued that there were “fresh elements” that overlapped with the federal indictments. While Wiley conceded there were new elements, he ultimately determined that they were “very different.”
“Given the rather unique set of facts pertaining to the defendant’s previous prosecution in federal court, and given New York’s law on this subject, defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment as barred by state double jeopardy must be granted,” he wrote, according to CNBC .
The dismissal marks a significant victory for Manafort. With state charges out of the way, he is eligible for a presidential pardon on his federal conviction. Trump has sympathized with Manafort but has not yet signaled publicly that he would pardon his former campaign chairman.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it would continue to litigate by appealing the case.
“We will appeal today’s decision and will continue working to ensure that Mr. Manafort is held accountable for the criminal conduct against the People of New York that is alleged in the indictment,” said Danny Frost, a spokesman for Vance’s office, according to The Washington P ost .
Manafort’s attorney, Todd Blanche, praised Wiley’s decision, saying that he had been arguing that the charges violated double jeopardy law since the indictment was made public in March 2019.
“This indictment should never have been brought, and today’s decision is a stark reminder that the law and justice should always prevail over politically-motivated actions,” said Blanche.
Manafort is serving his current prison term in a minimum-security federal penitentiary near Scranton, Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, Rick Gates, the former deputy Trump campaign manager and former business partner of Manafort, was sentenced to 45 days to jail, as previously reported by The Inquisitr . Gates received a lenient sentence, in part, for his cooperation in federal cases against Manafort and the president’s longtime political adviser Roger Stone.
Also on Tuesday, the ex-campaign chairman was hospitalized for an enduring cardiac event that began last week, The Inquisitr reported.
