Manafort update: Jury asks for four clarifications, deliberations to continue Friday
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After deliberating for some seven hours Thursday, the jury in the ongoing fraud trial of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort submitted four clarification questions to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III. xThe jury has proposed these 4 questions: Q: IsManafort update: Jury asks for four clarifications, deliberations to continue Friday
After deliberating for some seven hours Thursday, the jury in the ongoing fraud trial of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort submitted four clarification questions to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III. xThe jury has proposed these 4 questions: Q: Is one required to file an FBAR if they own less than 50% of the company and no signatory authority?Q: Define «shelf company»?Q: Can you redefine reasonable doubt?Q: Can the exhibit list be amended to include the indictment? https://t.co/CXfriveti7— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) August 16, 2018 Those questions relate to four specific counts of the 18 overall Manafort was charged with, according to Politico. The «reasonable doubt» question is a common question from jurors since that is the bar they are using to decide someone's guilt. Here's what Judge Ellis told them: «The government is not required to prove beyond 'all possible doubt,' just doubt that can be reasoned.» Ellis also provided an answer on the question related to an FBAR (foreign bank account report) by reading back jury instruction #53: «A person is an owner of record (Owner of FBAR) if a person is acting on behalf of a US person with access and control of the account, OR if a US person who owned more than 50% of company.» The question matters because the defense argued that prosecutors hadn’t proven Manafort had to file an FBAR on several of his overseas accounts, which were under the names of corporate entities in Cyprus. Instead, Manafort’s attorneys said his consulting firm should have filed the reports and that for three of the four charged years, he only owned 50 percent of the accounts while his wife owned the other half, per Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post. Overall, the judge wasn't super helpful, telling the jury to instead rely on their collective notes and memories entirely for the other two questions. Read more