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Presidential Clemency Record

Paul J. Manafort

Pardon

  /   2017–2021

Record at a Glance

Clemency type
Pardon
Presidential term
2017–2021
Federal district
1. Eastern District of Virginia 2. District of Columbia
Offense
1. Subscribing to false United States individual income tax returns for 2010-2014 tax years (five counts); failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts for calendar years 2011-2014; bank fraud/Lender B/$3.4 million loan; bank fraud/Lender C/$1 million loan 2. Conspiracy against the United States; conspiracy to obstruct justice (witness tampering)
Sentence
1. 47 months' imprisonment; three years' supervised release; $50,000 fine; $25,497,487.60 restitution (as amended by court order on March 21, 2019) (March 7, 2019) 2. 73 months' imprisonment; 36 months' supervised release (concurrent); $6,164,032 restitution (March 13, 2019)
Current status
The most recently verified later matter in this research pass is a February 2023 civil FBAR consent judgment for $3,152,190.12. It is separate from the criminal cases and pardon.

Original Case

Paul Manafort faced two federal prosecutions arising from the Special Counsel investigation. In the Eastern District of Virginia, a jury convicted him of five counts of filing false income-tax returns, one count of failing to report foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud; the jury did not reach a verdict on other counts. In the District of Columbia, Manafort later pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to obstruct justice through witness tampering. The courts imposed prison terms of 47 months in Virginia and 73 months in Washington, with part of the second sentence running concurrently, along with substantial restitution and a $50,000 fine.

Clemency

Trump granted Manafort a full and unconditional pardon on December 23, 2020. The warrant covered both the Eastern District of Virginia convictions and the District of Columbia guilty pleas. It did not resolve later civil liabilities arising outside those criminal judgments.

Trump Connection

Manafort joined Trump's 2016 presidential campaign to manage delegate operations during the Republican nomination contest. He rose to chief strategist and then campaign chairman, placing him among the campaign's most senior officials until he left in August 2016. His federal prosecutions later arose from the Special Counsel investigation, although the convictions covered financial crimes, unreported foreign accounts, bank fraud, conspiracy, and witness tampering rather than a charge of conspiring with the Trump campaign. Trump publicly expressed sympathy for Manafort before granting clemency. The White House's December 2020 announcement described Manafort's prosecutions in the administration's own critical terms and presented the pardon as a response to what it characterized as unfair treatment. Those statements explain Trump's publicly stated rationale; they did not alter the jury verdicts or guilty pleas through judicial review.

Since Clemency

  • 2021-04-15 · government intelligence assessment

    Treasury identified Konstantin Kilimnik as a Russian intelligence-services agent and stated that he supplied those services with sensitive polling and campaign-strategy information during the 2016 election campaign.

    Legal Status: Treasury assessment concerning Kilimnik, Manafort's former associate; not an additional criminal conviction of Manafort.

  • 2023-02-22 · civil case

    Manafort agreed to pay $3.15 million to settle the DOJ civil action over undeclared foreign bank accounts.

    Legal Status: Civil settlement, distinct from pardoned criminal convictions.

Sources

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