Federal judge grants Manafort’s request to delay trial
A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., has delayed the trial of Paul Manafort on bank and tax fraud charges until July 31.
Manafort, who appeared in court Monday for the first time since his June incarceration, had hoped the trial would be postponed until after he faces related charges in Washington, D.C., federal court on Sept. 17.
Judge T.S. Ellis was not so accommodating, but he did give Manafort’s defense an extra week to review tens of thousands of documents recently turned over by prosecutors.
“There are equities and good reasons on both sides,” he said.
The trial, previously set to begin Wednesday, will be the first prosecuted by the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Manafort, who appeared in a rumpled green jump- suit and wire-rim glasses, had waived other recent in-person court appearances because he had been held at a jail two hours from the Alexandria courthouse. But Manafort is now in Alexandria’s city jail, just a few blocks from the court.
He was moved after his lawyers said they were unable to prepare with their client 100 miles away at a jail in the Northern Neck.
But defense attorney Kevin Downing said Monday that his team is still struggling with the large volume of paperwork involved.
Prosecutors said the most relevant papers handed over recently were financial documents from Manafort’s bookkeeper that his attorneys turned over to the government themselves last summer.
Manafort had a different defense team at the time. Downing said once the bookkeeper was subpoenaed by prosecutors, the firm demanded money to give them back to Manafort.
“We thought that we would get it through discovery. It’s a lot cheaper,” Downing said.
“It depends on how you calculate the expense,” Ellis replied.
Downing said the defense also only recently received 40,000 pages of documents from the phones and computer of Richard Gates, Manafort’s ex-business partner.
Gates has pleaded guilty to two charges in Washington, D.C., federal court and is set to testify against Manafort. Kevin Downing, attorney for Paul Manafort, leaves court in Alexandria, Va.