On Tuesday, the jury found Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort guilty on 8 of the 18 charges, including five counts of tax fraud. The jury was unable to reach a consensus on 10 other charges forcing Judge T.S. Ellis to declare a mistrial on those 10 counts.
According to the Associated Press, Manafort was charged with 18 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud and hiding foreign bank accounts. He was found guilty of five counts of tax evasion, one charge of hiding foreign bank accounts and two counts of bank fraud. Manafort had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Manafort is the first person brought to trial by special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into Russia collusion in the 2016 presidential election. CNN notes that because Manafort’s charges are all federal charges, President Trump has the power to pardon Manafort should he see fit. Trump has repeatedly used his presidential Twitter account to call Mueller’s Russia probe a “witch hunt” that has not found any evidence of collusion that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian operatives to steal the 2016 election.
According to prosecutors, “Manafort collected $65 million in foreign bank accounts from 2010 to 2014 and spent more than $15 million on luxury purchases in the same period, including high-end clothing, real estate, landscaping and other big-ticket items,” ABC News reports.
In 2015, after Manafort’s work as an adviser to Ukraninian politicians slowed, prosecutors allege that the former Trump campaign chairman lied to banks to secure some $20 million in loans to maintain his extravagant lifestyle.