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Manafort Wants to Jettison Prison Jump Suit for Future Hearings

Paul Manafort would like to trade in the prison-issued jumpsuit he has sported since being imprisoned this June for a formal business suit when he appears in court for a hearing scheduled for Friday at a federal court in Virginia.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) – Paul Manafort would like to trade in the prison-issued jumpsuit he has sported since being imprisoned this June for a formal business suit when he appears in court for a hearing scheduled for Friday at a federal court in Virginia.

In a three-page motion filed Tuesday, Washington, D.C.-based attorney Kevin Downing requested Manafort be permitted to dress in a suit for a hearing on October 19 as well as all “subsequent” hearings.

The special counsel’s legal team is expected to decide on Friday if they will pursue a retrial for 10 counts that jurors deadlocked on during Manafort’s bank and tax fraud trial this August.

Manafort’s sartorial preferences were much discussed during the trial.

The onetime lobbyist spent thousands of dollars on high-end clothing and extravagant luxury items such as an ostrich-skin jacket, which cost the former Trump campaign chairman $15,000.

In total, prosecutors claimed Manafort spent at least $1.3 million on clothing – racking up bespoke suits from clothiers Alan Couture of New York and House of Bijan, a luxury fashion designer based in Beverly Hills, California.

He also spent $21,000 on a watch, according to court documents.

Though Manafort’s ostentatious fashion choices grabbed much attention during the trial, presiding U.S. District Judge T.S Ellis III didn’t appear to share much interest in this aspect.

Several times during trial, Ellis restricted prosecutors from showing pictures of Manafort’s custom suits to jurors.

The special counsel’s detailed focus on Manafort’s luxury clothing purchases struck the judge as irrelevant several times including at one point prompting him to interrupt the testimony of a suitmaker who testified on behalf of the prosecution.

As the suit maker rattled off a list of Manafort’s purchases, Ellis scowled and interrupted: “Let’s move on, enough is enough.”

“I can’t recognize these names,” he added. “If it doesn’t say Men’s Wearhouse, I don’t know it.”

Categories / Criminal, Government, International, Politics

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