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Yuri Gripas | Reuters
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort departs from U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., February 28, 2018.
New York authorities reportedly are preparing to criminally charge convicted tax cheat and bank fraudster Paul Manafort if President Donald Trump pardons his ex-campaign chief.
A presidential pardon would not protect Manafort, who is awaiting sentencing for a slew of federal charges, from state-filed criminal charges.
Trump has previously criticized special counsel Robert Mueller’s cases against Manafort, whom the president has called “a brave man!” on Twitter.
Bloomberg News reported that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is ready to file tax and other charges against Manafort, including possibly ones related to laws requiring the keeping of accurate business records.
Manafort, 69, is due to be sentenced in two separate federal criminal cases next month, in Virginia and in Washington, D.C., for crimes related to money he earned advising pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine in the years before he joined Trump’s campaign for several months in 2016.
The long-time Republican operative could be sentenced to two or more decades in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort, declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.
Both the White House and a spokesman for Vance had no immediate comment.
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