T. S. Ellis III

Last updated

T. S. Ellis III
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Incumbent
Assumed office
April 1, 2007

In March 2018, Ellis assumed control over a set of criminal charges against Paul Manafort, former chair of the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign. The 18 counts filed in Virginia federal court include tax evasion and bank fraud, and are in addition to earlier charges filed in a Washington, D.C. court. [14] The government alleges that Manafort, with assistance from his associate Rick Gates, laundered over $30 million through offshore bank accounts between approximately 2006 and 2015. [15] On March 13 Ellis ordered Manafort held on $10 million bond and home confinement with GPS monitoring. [16] He set a trial date of July 10, 2018. [17]

Manafort challenged Special Counsel Robert Mueller's authority to bring these charges. In a May 4 hearing on the challenge, Ellis repeatedly suggested that the prosecutors were not really interested in prosecuting the charges but had filed them to exert pressure on Manafort to cooperate with the special counsel's investigation into Trump. Ellis said he would rule on Manafort's challenge at a later date. [18] On June 26, 2018, Ellis issued an opinion stating that "upon further review" the Mueller investigation had acted within its authority, clearing the way for Manafort's trial to proceed. [19]

On July 31, 2018 a jury was seated, both sides made their opening statements, and the first prosecution witness was called. [20] In subsequent days prosecutors continued to present their case as Ellis repeatedly urged them to proceed expeditiously. [21] Nancy Gertner, a former federal judge, described Ellis's behavior - repeatedly interrupting and arguing with prosecutors in the presence of the jury - as "decidedly unusual" and appearing to show bias against the prosecution. [22] On the other hand, a legal analyst and former prosecutor remarked that Ellis's conduct was typical of a "move along" judge—jurists who tightly enforce courtroom rules and thereby insulate a case from appeal in the event of a conviction. [23] On the eighth day of the trial Ellis apologized for one of his comments, saying “It appears I may well have been wrong. But like any human, and this robe doesn’t make me anything other than human, I sometimes make mistakes." [24]

While the jury was deliberating, the judge revealed that he had been threatened and was being guarded by deputy U.S. marshals. [25]

On August 21, the jury found Manafort guilty on eight of the 18 charges, while the judge declared a mistrial on the other 10. He was convicted on five counts of tax fraud, one of the four counts of failing to disclose his foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud. The jury was hung on three of the four counts of failing to disclose, as well as five counts of bank fraud, four of them related to the Federal Savings Bank of Chicago, whose CEO had been seeking a position in the administration. [26]

On March 7, 2019, Ellis sentenced Manafort to 47 months in federal prison, citing excessive sentencing guidelines that called for up to 25 years in prison and said that Manafort had "lived an otherwise blameless life." [27] In Manafort's related criminal proceedings in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Manafort received an additional 43-month sentence. [28] [29] [30]

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References

  1. ↑ Lynch, Sarah N. (May 4, 2018). "U.S. judge says Mueller should not have 'unfettered power' in Russia probe". Reuters. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  2. ↑ Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, First Session, Part 3. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1989. p. 229.
  3. ↑ "U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III". Program in Law and Public Affairs | Princeton University. February 19, 2014. Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  4. ↑ "T.S. Ellis, III" (PDF). Duke University School of Law. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 22, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  5. ↑ Thomas, John Charles. "One Journey in a Century" (PDF). Hunton & Williams Centennial Directory. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Ellis, Thomas Selby III". Federal Judicial Center.
  7. ↑ Candiotti, Susan (October 4, 2002). "Walker Lindh sentenced to 20 years". CNN. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Recent Case: District Court Holds That Recipients of Government Leaks Who Disclose Information "Related to the National Defense" May Be Prosecuted Under the Espionage Act" (PDF). Harvard Law Review . 120: 821. 2007. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  9. ↑ "United States v Steven J Rosen, Keith Weissman : Memorandum Opinion" (PDF). Fas.org. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Reporter's Transcript of Motions Hearing, USA v. Rosen". April 16, 2007. Archived from the original on May 13, 2007. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  11. ↑ Johnathan M. Lamb, Pepperdine Law Review, Vol. 36, p. 213 (2008), The Muted Rise of the Silent Witness Rule in National Security Litigation, ssrn.com, SSRN   1125459 {{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ "Americas | CIA 'torture' lawsuit thrown out". BBC News. May 18, 2006. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  13. ↑ Day in Court Denied for Victim of CIA Kidnapping and Rendition, Khaled El-Masri Archived May 26, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Barrett, Devlin; Hsu, Spencer S. (February 22, 2018). "Special counsel Mueller files new charges in Manafort, Gates case". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  15. ↑ Apuzzo, Matt; Schmidt, Michael S. (February 22, 2018). "Mueller Files New Fraud Charges Against Paul Manafort". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  16. ↑ Singman, Brooke; Gibson, Jake (March 13, 2018). "Manafort 'faces very real possibility' of life in prison, court order says". Fox News. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  17. ↑ Caroline Kelly; Katelyn Polantz (March 8, 2018). "Manafort trial set to begin July 10". CNN. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  18. ↑ Polantz, Katelyn (May 5, 2018). "Judge in Manafort case says Mueller's aim is to hurt Trump". CNN. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  19. ↑ Lafraniere, Sharon (June 26, 2018). "Manafort Trial Is to Go Forward, but Judge Warns Mueller to Stay Within Authority". The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  20. ↑ Johnson, Carrie (August 1, 2018). "With Jury Picked, Manafort Trial Enters Its 2nd Day : NPR". NPR . Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  21. ↑ Breuninger, Kevin (August 3, 2018). "Accountants set to testify in trial of Trump ex-campaign boss Manafort". CNBC. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  22. ↑ Nancy Gertner, "The extraordinary bias of the judge in the Manafort trial," Washington Post, August 16, 2018.
  23. ↑ Renato Mariotti, "What did we learn from Day Seven of the Manafort trial?"
  24. ↑ Freifeld, Karen. "U.S. judge apologizes to prosecutors in former Trump aide..." U.S. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  25. ↑ Weiner, Rachel; Zapotosky, Matt; Bui, Lynh; Barrett, Devlin (August 17, 2018). "Trump defends Manafort as jury continues second day of deliberations". Washington Post. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  26. ↑ Katelyn Polantz; Dan Berman; Marshall Cohen; Liz Stark. "Paul Manafort found guilty on eight counts". CNN. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  27. ↑ LaFraniere, Sharon (March 7, 2019). "Paul Manafort Is Sentenced to Less Than 4 Years in 1 of 2 Cases Against Him". New York Times . Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  28. ↑ Hymes, Clare; Portnoy, Steven. "Paul Manafort to serve over 7 years in prison". CBS News. Jackson sentenced Manafort to 73 months ... Jackson imposed a 30-month overlap with the Virginia sentence
  29. ↑ Breuninger, Kevin (March 13, 2019). "Paul Manafort gets additional 43 months in second Mueller sentence after ex-Trump campaign boss says he's 'sorry'". CNBC. Paul Manafort, to 43 months of additional prison time
  30. ↑ Pecorin, Allison. "Paul Manafort's sentence in DC case means he faces 81 months total behind bars". ABC News . Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  31. ↑ Goldman, Adam (May 17, 2019). "Former C.I.A. Officer Sentenced to 20 Years After Spying for China". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
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