Paul Manafort has been charged with 16 felonies by the state of New York, meaning that he could be convicted and jailed for crimes that Donald Trump is powerless to pardon.

Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records, the Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance said on Wednesday.

The new charges were announced by Vance just minutes after Manafort received a second prison sentence in Washington DC for his convictions on federal charges stemming from Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation.

Trump has the authority as US president to pardon Manafort for all his federal convictions, meaning he could be freed from his combined seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence. But Trump has no power to intervene in Vance’s state prosecution.

“No one is beyond the law in New York,” Vance said in a statement. He said that Manafort’s alleged crimes “strike at the heart of New York’s sovereign interests, including the integrity of our residential mortgage market”.

Manafort, 69, is accused in New York of fraudulently obtaining home loans worth millions of dollars between 2015 and 2017. He has been jailed in Virginia since June last year, when his bail was revoked after he was caught witness tampering.</s>Trump’s ex-aide Paul Manafort has been charged in New York with residential mortgage fraud and other felonies, as state lawmakers move to ensure that US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman can be prosecuted even if he receives a presidential pardon.

The 16-count indictment was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance on Wednesday less than an hour after Manafort, 69, was given his second federal prison sentence this month, for a combined term of 7-1/2 years.

“No one is beyond the law in New York,” and the state probe “yielded serious criminal charges for which the defendant has not been held accountable,” Vance, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Manafort was sentenced on Wednesday by US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington to about 3-1/2 additional years in prison on conspiracy charges from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s role in the 2016 US presidential election.

That sentence came after Manafort was sentenced by another judge last Thursday in Virginia to nearly four years in prison, following his conviction last August on tax evasion and bank fraud charges related to the Mueller probe.</s>Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been indicted in New York on state charges, seen as a strategy for preventing a potential presidential pardon.

An indictment unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan accuses the 69-year-old Manafort of conducting a yearlong residential mortgage fraud scheme that netted millions of dollars.

The indictment filed March 7 was unsealed the same day Manafort was sentenced in Washington in the second of two federal cases against him.

He would serve more than seven years in prison in those cases. Trump has repeatedly defended him and floated the idea of granting a pardon, but would not be able to do so in a state case.</s>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Paul Manafort has been charged in New York with residential mortgage fraud and other felonies, as state lawmakers move to ensure that U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman can be prosecuted even if he receives a presidential pardon.

The 16-count indictment was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance on Wednesday less than an hour after Manafort, 69, was given his second federal prison sentence this month, for a combined term of 7-1/2 years.

“No one is beyond the law in New York,” and the state probe “yielded serious criminal charges for which the defendant has not been held accountable,” Vance, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Manafort was sentenced on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington to about 3-1/2 additional years in prison on conspiracy charges from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

That sentence came after Manafort was sentenced by another judge last Thursday in Virginia to nearly four years in prison, following his conviction last August on tax evasion and bank fraud charges related to the Mueller probe.

Trump has denied colluding with Moscow. The Kremlin has denied election interference.

Kevin Downing, a lawyer for Manafort, had no comment on the New York case following his client’s sentencing by Jackson.

Rudolph Giuliani, a lawyer for the Republican president and New York City’s former mayor, in a text message called the indictment an “irrational attempt” by Democrats to advance their political agenda.

Vance said the charges in the March 7 indictment related to a year-long scheme in which Manafort and others falsified records to obtain millions of dollars related to property loans.

Manafort faces up to 25 years in prison on the three most serious charges in the latest indictment, residential mortgage fraud in the first degree.

Some charges appeared to relate to testimony in Manafort’s Virginia trial including his alleged effort to disclaim a big American Express bill for season tickets to New York Yankees baseball games to help him qualify for loans.

It is unclear whether Manafort’s indictment will be challenged on double jeopardy grounds, the doctrine against prosecuting a person twice for the same offense.

Legislation being proposed this week in New York’s state capital of Albany may prevent that from being an issue.

Trump in November said he had not ruled out giving Manafort a pardon. On Wednesday, he said “I have not even given it a thought,” but that he felt “badly” for Manafort.

Presidents possess the power to issue pardons for federal crimes, not state crimes. New York has stronger double jeopardy protections than the U.S. Constitution, which could impede state prosecutions.

A bill proposed by former state attorney general Eric Schneiderman to lessen those protections died last year when control of the state legislature was effectively divided between Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats now have full control, and Assemblyman Joseph Lentol is co-sponsoring joint legislation this week to end such protections for people with what he called “close ties” to the White House, the president and his campaign.

Lentol, a Democrat, said in an interview that this would ensure that Vance, state Attorney General Letitia James and other prosecutors could pursue cases such as Manafort’s.

He said a bill could be ready for Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature as soon as next week.

“There are people associated with the president who may have committed crimes that should not go unpunished,” Lentol said. “It’s a wise thing to have some sort of a mechanism in our law to act as a check and balance on the presidential power to pardon.”</s>The sentencing hearings for Manafort mark a bookend of sorts for Mueller's investigation as it inches toward a conclusion. Manafort and business associate Rick Gates were among the first of 34 people charged, and though the charges against Manafort weren't tied to his work on the Trump campaign, his foreign entanglements have made him a subject of intrigue to prosecutors assessing whether the campaign colluded with Russia to sway the outcome of the election.</s>[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, has been charged in New York with mortgage fraud and more than a dozen other state felonies, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said Wednesday, an effort to ensure he will still face prison time if Mr. Trump pardons him for his federal crimes.

News of the indictment came shortly after Mr. Manafort was sentenced to his second federal prison term in two weeks; he now faces a combined sentence of more than seven years for tax and bank fraud and conspiracy in two related cases brought by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

The president has broad power to issue pardons for federal crimes, but has no such authority in state cases.

While Mr. Trump has not said he intends to pardon his former campaign chairman, he has often spoken of his power to pardon and has defended Mr. Manafort on a number of occasions, calling him a “brave man.”</s>Ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort indicted in New York City on mortgage fraud, conspiracy, other state charges

NEW YORK (AP) — Ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort indicted in New York City on mortgage fraud, conspiracy, other state charges.</s>March 13 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s former presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been indicted in New York on fresh charges of residential mortgage fraud, state prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Shortly after Manafort’s sentencing on federal conspiracy charges in Washington, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced that the indictment was filed in state Supreme Court last Thursday. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Tim Ahmann)</s>The sentencing hearings for Manafort mark a bookend of sorts for Mueller's investigation as it inches toward a conclusion. Manafort and business associate Rick Gates were among the first of 34 people charged, and though the charges against Manafort weren't tied to his work on the Trump campaign, his foreign entanglements have made him a subject of intrigue to prosecutors assessing whether the campaign colluded with Russia to sway the outcome of the election.</s>President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was indicted Wednesday by a state grand jury in New York on charges of residential mortgage fraud — the announcement coming just minutes after Manafort was sentenced in federal court in Washington to more than seven years in prison.

[Read the indictment: The People of the State of New York against Paul J. Manafort Jr.]

The charges filed against Manafort may stand as a kind of prosecutorial insurance policy against a possible presidential pardon — a scenario that Trump has refused to discuss as Manafort’s case worked its way through the federal court system. The president has called Manafort brave for fighting his case against special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“No one is beyond the law in New York,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement announcing the indictment. “Following an investigation commenced by our office in March 2017, a Manhattan grand jury has charged Mr. Manafort with state criminal violations which strike at the heart of New York’s sovereign interests, including the integrity of our residential mortgage market.”

[Paul Manafort sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison for conspiracy, fraud]

The state charges could be challenged in the courts as a violation of double jeopardy protections for defendants, an area in which current New York law may favor Manafort.

The mortgage fraud charges stem from the same conduct that led to Manafort’s federal conviction — that he allegedly submitted false information to banks while seeking loans. The 16-count indictment accuses him of residential mortgage fraud, attempted residential mortgage fraud, falsifying business records, scheming to defraud and conspiracy.
Minutes after Manafort is sentenced in federal court, New York state prosecutors announce 16 criminal charges against him related to mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records.