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house arrest in exchange for posting four real estate properties as collateral under advisement and rule at a later date.
Previously, prosecutors had asked her to deny Manafort’s request, saying his behind-the-scenes ghost-writing violated her order and raised issues of trust.
“Mr Manafort, that order applies to you, and not just your lawyer,” Jackson said.
She said the op-ed, while not published in a US newspaper, could potentially taint a local jury pool because of the global nature of media.
“All that has to happen is for that favourable article, which is going to look, on its face, to be entirely independent, but is actually, in part, a message crafted and shaped by you... to have somebody you know post it on Facebook, Twitter or a blog, and you will have accomplished your goal, given the power of retweeting.”
Manafort and his business associate, Rick Gates, are facing charges, including conspiracy to launder money and failing to register as a foreign agent working on behalf of former pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych’s government.
Jackson set the next status conference hearing for Jan 16.
She said she had outstanding concerns about Manafort’s proposed bail package, including his reliance on the real estate website Zillow, to come up with some of the property value estimates.
Earlier this month, Manafort pledged about US$8 million (RM32.6 million) in real estate assets in New York City and elsewhere, as well as life insurance worth US$4.5 million as security for bond.
In a court filing on Monday, Manafort provided information, including real estate tax assessments, appraised market values and comparable sales data for the properties in New York, Virginia and Florida. Many items cited Zillow. Reuters