Manafort's former son-in-law charged with new fraud schemes

LOS ANGELES — Paul Manafort's former sonin-law appeared in court Wednesday on charges that he pulled a series of fraud schemes while awaiting sentencing in federal court for similar crimes.

Jeffrey Craig Yohai, 36, was charged with identity theft and conspiring to commit wire fraud involving a $6 million investment scheme and floating $500,000 in fraudulent checks.

At the time, Yohai was free on bail after pleading guilty to fraud involving $15 million in real estate loans to rehab homes in the Hollywood Hills.

Yohai was previously married to Manafort's daughter, Jessica. Yohai's name surfaced during the bank and tax fraud trial for Manafort, the former campaign chairman for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Manafort has been convicted several federal crimes and agreed to cooperate with investigators in the Russia probe.

The case outlined against Yohai mentions the Russia probe, but in doing so appears to debunk Yohai's claims that he was also in discussions with the team headed by special counsel Robert Mueller and had turned on his former father-in-law.

Yohai mentioned in an unrelated New York civil case that he had missed court deadlines because of his involvement with the special counsel. He also told one of his alleged victims in the case unsealed Wednesday that he had "turned state's evidence" against Manafort and had to go to Washington to meet with the special counsel's office.

"I know these statements to be false as I was the case agent for the special counsel's case against Manafort," agent Sherine Ebadi wrote in an affidavit supporting the new charges. "The last time Yohai met with me was in April 2018 and the topic of conversation was Yohai, not Manafort."