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Monday, March 18, 2024 | Back issues
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Facing Disbarment, Manafort Resigns as Lawyer

Heading off a Tuesday disbarment hearing, convicted ex-Trump confidant Paul Manafort submitted his resignation as a lawyer in Connecticut.

HARTFORD, Ct. (CN) - Heading off a Tuesday disbarment hearing, convicted ex-Trump confidant Paul Manafort submitted his resignation as a lawyer in Connecticut.

Represented by attorneys at the firm Ury & Moskow, the 69-year-old Manafort stipulated in the Jan. 9 filing that he is waiving his right “to seek reinstatement at any time in the future.”

Manafort, who was convicted in August of eight counts of bank and tax fraud, has been incarcerated in the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia while he awaits sentencing. The former lobbyist and chair of President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign was among the first U.S. citizens to be charged in the ongoing Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. 

Though found guilty by a jury in Virginia this summer, Manafort also pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiracy against the U.S. and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Manafort agreed as part of his plea deal to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation, but prosecutors accused the ex-lobbyist in November of violating that deal.

Last week defense attorney Kevin Downing filed a brief as part of those proceedings that shed light on Mueller’s allegations for the first time. Because of improper redactions, the brief revealed that Mueller has accused Manafort of sharing polling data about the Trump campaign during the 2016 election with accused Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik.

Manafort's filing in Hartford says Connecticut ethics officials cited Manafort's guilty plea as evidence of attorney misconduct.

"By submitting this Resignation and Waiver, I waive the right to a full evidentiary hearing on both the Presentment and the Grievance and acknowledge that the court will enter a finding of misconduct in the presentment because of my being convicted of a crime pursuant to P .B. Section 2-41," Manafort wrote in an affidavit.

The document says Manafort was admitted to practice law in Connecticut in October 1974 but has no law practice, office, or clients in either Connecticut or the District of Columbia, where he is also a member of the bar. He has no appearances of record before any state or federal court in Connecticut.

A judge must still decide whether to accept Manafort’s resignation.

Categories / Criminal, Government, Law, Politics

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