Paul Manafort Settles Civil Case With U.S. Government for $3.15 Million

The former chairman of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Paul Manafort, has agreed to pay $3.15 million to settle a civil case filed by the Justice Department over undeclared foreign bank accounts.

The details of the settlement were filed on February 22 in the U.S. Southern District of Florida.

In a civil case filed in April 2022, the DOJ prosecutors alleged that Manafort had failed to disclose more than 20 offshore bank accounts he ordered opened in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The government sought an order to force Manafort to pay fines, penalties and interest for failing to disclose the money on federal income tax returns. The government said false tax returns had been filed from 2006-2015.

In 2018, a jury convicted Manafort of eight financial crimes, including several related to his political consulting work in Ukraine, but the judge hearing the case declared a mistrial on 10 other counts when jurors could not reach a verdict.

Manafort was sentenced to seven years in prison, but Trump pardoned him in the last week of his presidency.

In 2019, the Manhattan district attorney attempted to file fraud charges that echoed the federal case, with the assumption that Trump would pardon Manafort. A New York state judge threw out the case, saying it violated state laws against double jeopardy.

AP, WaPo

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