Former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort has agreed to plead guilty in a deal to resolve charges filed by special counsel Robert Mueller, but it is not clear if if the longtime Republican operative will cooperate with prosecutors against President Donald Trump, court documents filed Friday indicate.
Manafort, who was set to begin jury selection for his second federal criminal trial next Monday, was charged in a superseding criminal information filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., accusing him of a myriad of criminal acts related to his consulting work in Ukraine.
That charging document alleges Manafort engaged in a conspiracy involving money laundering, tax fraud, failing to report foreign bank accounts, violating rules requiring registration of foreign agents, lying and witness tampering.
Criminal informations are routinely filed in federal cases when a defendant has agreed to plead guilty. The charging document will replace an indictment that had been pending against Manafort in Washington court.
Manafort, 69, is scheduled to appear later Friday morning in court.
Mueller’s office, in a prepared statement said, “Additional information will be provided in the near future.”
Manafort was convicted last month at his first trial in federal court in Virginia on charges that included bank and tax fraud. He has been held in jail since June after Mueller accused him in the Washington case of trying to tamper with witnesses against him.
Both criminal cases relate to consulting work he and his associate, Rick Gates, did on behalf of pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine, in the years before both men worked on Trump’s campaign.
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https://in-cyprus.com/news/international/trump-aide-manafort-found-guilty-on-eight-of-18-charges/
