Manafort’s lawyers call no witnesses in fraud trial

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort’s lawyers declined Tuesday to call witnesses to defend him against charges of bank and tax fraud. Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, also told the judge he did not want to testify, clearing the way for closing arguments from both sides and the start of jury deliberations Wednesday.

The decision by the defense to rest without presenting evidence was not unusual. “The defense believes it has made its point through cross-examination,” said Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor and a former federal judge.

Manafort is letting the case go to the jury because he and his attorneys “do not believe that the government has met its burden of proof,” said Kevin Downing, the lead defense lawyer in the case.

Earlier Tuesday, Judge T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court in Alexandria also denied a motion by Manafort’s lawyers to acquit him on all 18 charges without giving the case to the jury, another standard defense tactic as trials wind down. He closed the courtroom for more than two hours to discuss another defense motion that has been sealed, along with the government’s response.

Prosecutors for special counsel Robert Mueller rested their case Monday after calling roughly two dozen witnesses and introducing hundreds of exhibits. Manafort, 69, is accused of evading taxes on roughly $16.5 million in income that he earned working for pro-Russia political forces in Ukraine. When that income ran out, prosecutors claim, he fraudulently obtained more than $20 million in bank loans so he could maintain an extravagant lifestyle.

Defense lawyers made a special effort, including submitting a last-minute brief, to persuade the judge to throw out four bank fraud charges involving $16 million in loans that Manafort obtained from a small Chicago bank in late 2016 and early 2017. Richard Westling, one of Manafort’s lawyers, argued that the bank, Federal Savings Bank, was not defrauded because its chairman, Stephen Calk, was determined to do business with Manafort despite questions about Manafort’s wherewithal. He also argued that bank officials were well aware of Manafort’s true financial situation.