Going forward, Paul Manafort won’t be able to wear his fancy suits to court appearances. Now that he’s a convict he’ll have to wear his prison uniform to court like the rest of the convicts, according to a judge’s recent ruling.
This Wednesday, a federal district court judge denied Manafort’s request to wear a suit to his sentencing hearing. Judge T. S. Ellis III, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia told the disgraced former Trump campaign manager that he’s going to be treated like any other convict with no exceptions.
“This defendant should be treated no differently from other defendants who are in custody post conviction,” the judge wrote in his order.
“Thus, defendant is no longer presumed innocent of the multiple criminal courts he stands convicted of, and therefore is not entitled to appear in street clothing at court proceedings,” Ellis added.
Manafort was convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud this August but is yet to be sentenced.
In September, Manafort took a deal where he pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy against the U.S. and witness tampering. The deal allowed him to avoid a second trial on separate charges. The deal also required him to agree to fully cooperate with Special Council Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia.
A handful of other charges against Manafort were dropped as a result of the deal, which included money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent.
In other news, a U.S. Treasury employee has been arrested and charged with leaking details about Manafort’s suspicious financial transactions.
From CNBC:
The highly confidential documents allegedly leaked by the employee also were related to former Trump campaign official Richard Gates, accused Russian agent Maria Butina, a suspected Russian money launderering entity and the Russian Embassy in Washington, according to a criminal complaint.
Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, a 40-year-old senior advisor in Treasury’s financial crimes enforcement network who was arrested Tuesday, will face federal criminal charges in New York, officials said.
Manafort will be back in court this Friday to set a sentencing date and to discuss other matter related to his conviction and possible dismissal of other counts as they pertain to his deal.
Featured image via Victoria Pickering (Flickr)
