ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Former Trump campaign manger Paul Manafort has been convicted on 8 of 18 counts by a federal jury in Virginia, and a mistrial was declared on the remaining 10 counts when the jury deadlocked.
The mixed verdict came after the jury spent nearly four days deliberating, where they faced hundreds of pages exhibits from the two weeks the government took to make its case.
Tuesday’s conviction was the first guilty verdict from a jury special counsel Robert Mueller has secured, amid several guilty he pleas he has secured, some from other top Trump aides. The charges Manafort was on trial for in Virginia were not related to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, but rather for financial crimes mostly stemming from his consulting work in Ukraine predating his time on the Trump campaign.
The jury found Manafort guilty on 5 counts of filing false tax returns, covering the years 2010-2014, one count of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud. The jurors were deadlocked on the remaining 10 counts.
One of the guilty bank fraud counts had to do with a $3.4 million loan Manafort received from Citizens Bank in 2016 and another for a $1 million loan Manafort was extended from Banc of California in 2016.
There was a mistrial on the conspiracy counts associated with those loans, and the three other bank fraud conspiracy counts that Mueller brought in the case. There was also a mistrial on the counts related to $16 million in Manafort loans from Federal Savings Bank, whose CEO had sought a position in the Trump administration while negotiating the loan, as well as to a bank fraud count related to another Citizens Bank loan application for which Manafort was denied.
Additionally the jury was deadlocked on three of the four charges of failure to file foreign bank reports.
Ellis gave the prosecutors a week to say what they intended to do on the mistrial counts. The defense asked for 30 days to decide if they would seek acquittal or a new trial on those counts, which Ellis said he was inclined to grant if the government had not objections. Manafort also faces money laundering and failure to disclose foreign lobbying charges in D.C. That case is scheduled for trial next month.
As the court clerk read the verdict aloud in the courtroom Tuesday evening, Manafort appeared expressionless. He stood facing the jury with his arms down in front of him and his hands clasped.
After the verdict was announced Ellis called Manafort to the podium and described the sentencing process, which will include a presentencing report and opportunity for Manafort to make his comments to the judge in a proceeding known as the allocution.
As he was escorted from the courtroom to his holding cell, he made eye contact with his wife Kathleen, who had been present every day of the trial. She continued to look at the door he exited after it shut behind him. The defense team appeared somber as they exited the courtroom.
“Mr. Manafort is disappointed for not getting acquittals all the way through or a complete hung jury on all counts,” Kevin Downing, Manafort’s lead attorney, said in brief remarks to the press outside the courthouse. “However, he would like to thank Judge Ellis for granting him a fair trial and thank the jury for their very long and hard-fought deliberations. He is evaluating all of his options at this point.”
Before excusing the jury, Ellis thanked them for their service, and asked them to confirm that they would like him to keep their identities under seal, as he indicated he planned to do, at least for some time, despite a request from media outlets that their names be released. They all said, yes, when he asked if they would like their identities to remain confidential.
He told them they were now free to discuss the case with whomever they’d like but that he’d prefer they not describe the deliberations to the media.
“That seems to me to do an injury to the deliberative process,” Ellis said. He said that if jurors know that what they said and did in deliberations would become “grist for the media mill” that they may not be able deliberate freely.
After the jurors and Manafort left the courtroom, Ellis complimented both sides’ attorneys for their “effective and zealous representation.” He also referenced the aggressive media attention the case — and specifically he himself — received.
“My grandson called and said, ‘Are you really…'” Ellis started before trailing off. He brought up a comment about he made previously in the trial about being the “Caesar” in his own “Rome,” and reiterated that it was a “very small Rome” and that he was “less supreme” than the original Caesar.
A little before 4:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Judge T.S. Ellis read a note from the jury informing the court that they were not able to reach consensus on 10 counts, but had reached a verdict on the other charges. Ellis proposed calling in the jury and asking each juror individually whether they believed they could reach a verdict on the 10 remaining counts with further deliberation. The attorneys on both sides agreed to that approach.
When Ellis called the jury in around 4:30 p.m. ET, they each said no, further deliberation would not yield additional verdicts. At that time, the court clerk read aloud the verdict.
Shortly before noon on Tuesday, the jury had sent a note to Ellis asking how they should fill out the verdict form if they could not come to a consensus on a count. At that time, Ellis told the jurors to continue deliberating and explained that if they failed to reach a verdict, the case will remain open.
THE COUNTS
(NOTE: charges are nonconsecutive because the original indictment included charges for Gates)
1
On a count of committing tax fraud in 2010, Manafort was found GUILTY
2
On a count of committing tax fraud in 2011, Manafort was found GUILTY
3
On a count of committing tax fraud in 2012, Manafort was found GUILTY
4
On a count of committing tax fraud in 2013, Manafort was found GUILTY
5
On a count of committing tax fraud in 2014, Manafort was found GUILTY
11
On a count of failing to submit an FBAR report for 2011, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
12
On a count of failing to submit an FBAR report for 2012, Manafort was found GUILTY
13
On a count of failing to submit an FBAR report for 2013, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
14
On a count of failing to submit an FBAR report for 2014, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
24
On a count of bank fraud conspiracy to obtain a $3.4 million loan from Citizens Bank, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
25
On a count of bank fraud to obtain a $3.4 million loan from Citizens Bank, Manafort was found GUILTY
26
On a count of bank fraud conspiracy to obtain a $1 million loan from Banc of California, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
27
On a count of bank fraud to obtain a $1 million loan from Banc of California, Manafort was found GUILTY
28
On a count of bank fraud conspiracy to obtain a $5.5 million loan from Citizens Bank, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
29
On a count of bank fraud conspiracy to obtain a $9.5 million loan from Federal Savings Bank, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
30
On a count of bank fraud to obtain a $9.5 million loan from Federal Savings Bank, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
31
On a count of bank fraud conspiracy to obtain a $6.5 million loan from Federal Savings Bank, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
32
On a count of bank fraud to obtain a $6.5 million loan from Federal Savings Bank, Manafort was found MISTRIAL
