Paul Manafort has admitted to conspiracy and witness tampering charges. The relevations came just weeks after Manafort was found guilty on eight other counts.
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Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for US President Donald Trump, has pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and witness tampering, court documents indicated on Friday.
The revelations come three weeks after Manafort was convicted in a separate trial on eight counts related to financial fraud as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into election interference.
The new charges relate to his political lobbying work in Ukraine, where he worked on behalf of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, both in Kyiv and in the US. Although such work is required to be registered with US authorities under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Manafort neglected to do so for years.
During this time, Manafort was also actively working for several Russian oligarchs.
In response to the guilty plea, the White House emphasized that the charges relating to Manafort's activities had "nothing to do" with the 2016 election.
"This had absolutely nothing to do with the President or his victorious 2016 Presidential campaign. It is totally unrelated," said Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
Paul Manafort: Political insider
Paul Manafort was once at the helm of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The political insider's dramatic fall from grace has culminated in a nearly four-year prison sentence.
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Longtime Republican adviser
Seen here on the campaign trail with then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016, Paul Manafort has been a fixture in Washington for decades. He worked for the campaigns of Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, as well as for unsuccessful 1996 candidate Bob Dole. Later, he began lobbying for foreign leaders in countries such as Saudi Arabia and for Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine.
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History of working with dictators
His firm Manafort, Black and Kelly lobbied the US government on behalf of a number of unsavory characters including dictators like former Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych and others. Lobbying for foreign countries requires registration with the Justice Department, which Manafort failed to do.
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Corruption allegations
Ukraine's government has accused Manafort of receiving illegal, off-the-record payments from its predecessor. Manafort was also accused of supporting the violent removal of protesters from Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti square during Ukraine's 2014 uprising. Dozens of demonstrators were shot by police.
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Manafort's right-hand man
As Manafort's trial began, one of the key witnesses against him was Rick Gates (left), who cut a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller. Gates pleaded guilty in February 2018 and is cooperating with prosecutors. Gates has knowledge of Manafort's offshore bank accounts, his work for Ukraine and his relationship with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Vucci
Alleged witness tampering
In this photo from Manafort's consulting offices, Konstantin Kilimnik (left), who allegedly has ties to Russian intelligence, poses for a photo with Manafort and others. It is one of the few images known to exist of Kilimnik, who has been accused by the Mueller investigation of witness tampering.
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Indicted by federal grand jury
After being indicted, Manafort was allowed to remain free on bail after posting a $10 million dollar bond. A judge sent him to prison when prosecutors accused him of attempting to tamper with the testimony of two witnesses. In prison, Manafort was given VIP treatment, which included a phone and a laptop.
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Sentenced to prison
On March 7, 2019, Manafort was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for tax fraud, bank fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. He was also ordered to pay more than $24 million in restitution. Manafort did not to testify during the trial, but after the verdict he said the ordeal had left him "professionally and financially in shambles."
As part of the deal, Manafort has agreed to cooperate "fully and truthfully" with the special counsel investigation.
Although this move avoids a potentially embarrassing trial for Republicans in the run-up to the US midterm elections, it likely dashes any earlier hope of a presidential pardon. Trump had signaled a willingness to consider clemency for Manafort through his spokesman Rudy Giuliani. Trump has also favorably compared Manafort to Michael Cohen, the president's former lawyer. The president praised Manafort for refusing to "break" and talk to Mueller, unlike Cohen.
Cohen has plead guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations, including paying off adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
