Judge tosses New York charges against Paul Manafort in blow to what is seen as an attempt to hedge against a possible pardon by President Trump.
A New York judge threw out state mortgage fraud charges against Paul Manafort, ruling Wednesday that the criminal case was too similar to one that has already landed President Trump’s former campaign chairman in federal prison.
Judge Maxwell Wiley ruled that state law precludes prosecution, citing double jeopardy grounds. Manafort, 70, wasn’t in court for Wiley’s ruling because of a health problem. “Basically, the law of double jeopardy in New York state provides a very narrow window for prosecution,” the judge said.Defense lawyer Todd Blanche raised the double jeopardy issue soon after Manafort was arrested, saying that the charges brought by Vance violated a state law that bars repeat prosecutions for the same general conduct.The factual overlap between the federal and state cases “is extensive — if not total,” Blanche wrote in court papers.
Vance announced the charges in March, just minutes after Manafort was sentenced in the second of the two federal cases, saying in a statement at the time: “No one is beyond the law in New York.”
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