What Happens to Paul Manafort’s Ostrich Jacket if He’s Convicted?
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The jury is still out on whether Paul Manafort is going to jail, but either way he’ll probably get to keep the ostrich leather jacket that prosecutors put into evidence and fashionistas savaged.
Trump’s former campaign chairman paid $15,000 for the silk-lined piece, but if he decides to sell it to pay the feds or legal bills, it looks like he will have to settle for far less. The world’s largest collectibles auctioneer told The Daily Beast the jacket would fetch only a fraction of its original price because it’s “not a brand that adds any value” and Manafort isn’t famous enough.
There were howls of laughter earlier this month when Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team released photographs of the bomber-style jacket and other luxury clothing cataloged during a search of Manafort’s Alexandria, Virginia, home.
But Mueller’s team made the apparel part of the case for a serious reason: Prosecutors allege that Manafort used millions in unreported income from his lucrative foreign consulting business to pay for lavish goods and services.
A federal jury is deliberating whether he should go to prison on 18 counts of tax fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy. And defendants convicted of a federal crime often have to cough up money to the government as part of their sentence, on top of any prison time.
But in this case, it appears the long arm of the law won’t be caressed by the supple touch of Manafort’s outerwear.
“There's three different avenues that the government can use to forfeit property: criminal forfeiture, civil forfeitures, and administrative forfeiture,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti explained to The Daily Beast. “Typically, because it's the easiest for the government, they do criminal forfeiture.”
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