U.S. prosecutors filed a straightforward, easy-to-prove criminal case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, leaving him with a stark choice: cooperate or fight the charges and, if he loses, face years in prison.
The indictment, unsealed on Monday, relies extensively on so-called document charges -- essentially that Manafort and his business partner Richard Gates didn’t file reports to the government that they were required to under the law. Such cases are rarely prosecuted, but they still carry the potential for prison time, particularly when combined with the more serious charges of money laundering. The maximum sentence for money laundering is 20 years. Cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, on the other hand, can win Manafort leniency.
“They’ve adhered to the old adage of, ‘Keep it simple.’ This is not an over-broad indictment, and I think their goal here is to make it quick,” said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and former federal prosecutor. “It could be a means to gain their cooperation in a broader investigation, and I think that’s what Mueller’s trying to do.”
Manafort and Gates are charged with conspiracy against the U.S., money laundering, making false statements and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. The U.S. claims the men failed to reveal their work for Ukraine, its political parties and its leaders -- and together worked to hide it from the Justice Department. The charges may present a low hurdle for the government because the essence of the case is the failure to disclose work for the foreign government or the existence of offshore accounts.
Prosecutors rarely file criminal cases over the Foreign Agents Registration Act -- a point stressed by Manafort’s lawyer Kevin Downing on Monday, after Manafort and Gates pleaded not guilty in court.
“The U.S. government has only used that offense six times since 1966 and only resulted in one conviction,” Downing told reporters. He called the government claims ridiculous.
But the inclusion of the money-laundering allegation puts more muscle in the indictment, both in the time behind bars that they face and the money they would stand to lose.
“That’s why the money-laundering charge is critical to the government’s case,” said Jaimie Nawaday, a partner at Kelley Drye & Warren and former money-laundering prosecutor in New York. “Without it, you may not have enough to put pressure on the defendants.”
The money-laundering charges are tougher to prove, said Robert Capers, a former U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, who is now a partner at Arent Fox. "You’re proving the underlying unlawful act” -- in this case, the failure to disclose Manafort’s work for Ukraine -- and that he concealed transactions tied to it, he said. “It’s more work.”
“Money laundering is typically one of the hardest crimes to prove,” added Ross Delston, a Washington attorney and anti-money laundering expert. “One of the hallmarks of money laundering is the complexity of movements of money, often originating in offshore financial centers and not having an apparent business or economic purpose.”