Really???

Manafort and Gates are sprung for holiday as bail talks drag on

Three weeks into their criminal case in the Russia inquiry, there's no sign of a long-term deal to end house arrest.

By JOSH GERSTEIN

Former Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates are being sprung from home detention for the Thanksgiving holiday, but the decision highlights how negotiations over bail arrangements for the two men are dragging on much longer than anticipated.

At a hearing on Nov. 6, a prosecutor from special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, which is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election, predicted that discussions about a bail package for Manafort would be wrapped up within 48 hours.

“I think, for Mr. Manafort, we’re getting close,” prosecutor Greg Andres told U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

Yet three weeks after Manafort and Gates were arraigned and nearly two weeks after Andres laid out that timeline, there’s still no sign of a deal.

“I’m not surprised at all. I suspect very much there’s a great deal of discussion going on behind closed doors,” said Mike Ramsey, a Texas criminal defense lawyer who defended Enron CEO Kenneth Lay on fraud charges and New York real estate scion Robert Durst in a high-profile murder case. “If nobody’s making any noise about it, that itself is a signal that negotiations are happening of one kind or another. I’m just certain that they are.”

At a hearing Tuesday, Jackson expressed frustration with the prosecution and with Gates’ defense, but there were few clues about progress in assembling the $10 million the prosecution wants to secure Manafort’s appearance at trial and the $5 million sought for Gates’ bond.

Jackson made clear to both sides that if they could not reach a deal on how to structure the bond proposal, she would entertain motions from either side.

“I did not rule that you had to come to an agreement,” she said, before noting the option for a unilateral proposal. “No one has done that yet.”

The only clear reference to the state of negotiations came from a Manafort defense attorney, Kevin Downing, who said a life insurance policy for Manafort was an element of talks with prosecutors about a bail package.

“I think it’s part of the discussion,” Downing said.

Jackson spent the outset of the 20-minute hearing scolding Gates attorney Shanlon Wu for submitting paperwork to the court clerk’s office last week trying to pledge property from Gates to provide part of a potential security for a bond. The judge said the defense lawyer should have filed a formal motion proposing a bail package, rather than proceeding incrementally and informally through the clerk.

“I was quite taken aback when someone from the clerk’s office showed up” with the package of paperwork, the judge declared. “Clerk’s office personnel do not serve as a messenger service. You cannot communicate with the court by passing notes. … That’s just not how we’re going to do things.”

Jackson noted that public interest in the case has been intense since the men were arraigned Oct. 31 on charges of money laundering, making false statements to officials and failing to register as foreign agents for Ukraine. That’s one of “a number of salutary reasons” why the filings about bail need to be on the public record, she said.

“We have a public that’s tremendously interested in this case,” the judge said. “We just can’t sidestep this process. … I can’t rule on things that just come in over the transom.”

Jackson ultimately returned the paperwork to Wu, but not before she added that she had doubts about some of the valuations of Gates’ property. Apparently referring to his Richmond, Virginia, home, she said he was claiming “a spectacular $1 million appreciation over an 18-month period.”

Despite the judge’s call for transparency, she brought the attorneys to sidebar and had a white-noise machine turned on as the parties discussed the specifics of Manafort’s and Gates’ requests for Thanksgiving leave.

After that private discussion, the judge said she’d approve release of both men from home confinement to attend family events over the holiday weekend.

“Neither defendant may consume alcohol at any of these events,” Jackson said, adding that Manafort and Gates must continue wearing GPS ankle bracelets.

Legal experts said the money laundering charges and the international aspect of the case added to the complexity of working out a bail deal. While Manafort may wish to dispute ownership of some of the dozens of business entities referenced in the indictment, that will be hard to do if he draws funds from them for his bond.

“You have to lay the cards on the table, particularly when you’re using cash or CDs or something. You have to make it clear where true ownership lies,” said Ramsey, the Texas criminal defense lawyer. “It will be one of the contested issues in the trial. … It’s a dicey game to play.”

Another challenge for Manafort and Gates is that prosecutors are objecting to any use for bail purposes of any funds considered proceeds from the alleged illegal scheme. Given the various transfers alleged in the indictment, it’s hard to know what money would be definitively considered clean.

And the prosecution has already specifically called for freezing any transfer or pledging of one life insurance policy they believe Manafort should have to forfeit.

“I don't like their argument, but it’s not novel and not unique to that case,” Ramsey said. “They'll take something they claim is being laundered and say it cannot be used as bond money. … I think it’s unfair to do because it’s making a judgment on the outcome of the trial before the trial happens.”

Jackson also pressed prosecutors Tuesday on a motion they filed Monday suggesting that one of Gates’ defense lawyers, Walter Mack, may have a conflict because he also represents a Gates business partner, Steven Brown, who is facing a trial in federal court in New York on fraud charges.

The judge said she found the prosecution’s motion rather opaque when it came to explaining how the representation could be a problem.

“I really had some difficulty [discerning] what is the conflict you think exists on the part of the lawyer,” Jackson said. “Is Mr. Brown on your witness list?”

“He’s not, Judge,” Andres replied, adding that there was still a chance that Gates could be called to testify in the New York case set for trial in March or that Brown might be a witness in the Washington case. “It's a potential conflict. … It’s something that could develop over time.”

Andres said Gates was involved in financing some of the transactions that led to the New York case. He “could be a victim or he could be a co-conspirator,” the prosecutor said. “The government isn’t alleging either.”

The judge left the issue unresolved for now, giving Gates’ team until Dec. 4 to respond.