14 Feb 2019

Trump ex-aide Manafort: lied to prosecutors, judge rules

7:02 pm on 14 February 2019

Donald Trump's former election campaign chief Paul Manafort breached his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller by lying to prosecutors, a US judge says.

Paul Manafort arrives for a hearing at US District Court on June 15, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

Paul Manafort arrives for a hearing at US District Court in Washington, DC, in June 2018. Photo: AFP

US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that Manafort "made multiple false statements" to the FBI, Mr Mueller's office and a grand jury.

Mr Mueller leads a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

Manafort was convicted of financial fraud in August.

This related to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine.

Manafort, 69, then accepted a plea deal on other charges in return for co-operating with Mr Mueller's investigation.

In her ruling on Wednesday, Judge Berman Jackson said there was evidence that showed Manafort had lied about - among other things - contacts he had with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian political consultant. Prosecutors claim Mr Kilimnik had ties to Russian intelligence.

The judge also cleared Manafort of allegations that he lied on two other subjects.

The verdict means that Manafort - who has been held in a detention centre in Virginia since June - could now potentially face harsher sentences or have charges against him re-filed.

Last year, Mr Mueller said that Manafort lied "on a variety of subject matters" after signing the plea deal.

-BBC

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