President Trump’s imprisoned former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, pleaded not guilty Thursday to state mortgage fraud charges during an arraignment hearing in a New York City courtroom.
Manafort, 70, is already serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence. If convicted of the fraud charges, Manafort presumably would remain behind bars even if he is pardoned for federal crimes uncovered during the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Manafort, was transferred last week to a federal prison in New York for his scheduled 2:15 p.m. arraignment before Judge Maxwell Wiley. The 16-count New York indictment alleges Manafort gave false and misleading information in applying for residential mortgage loans, starting in 2015 and continuing until three days before Trump’s inauguration in 2017. He is also charged with falsifying business records and conspiracy.
Manafort’s next court date is Oct. 9.
Editorial credit: mark reinstein / Shutterstock.com