Paul Manafort, the Republican consultant who at one point ran Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, cannot be prosecuted in New York state court for conduct related to his prior federal criminal convictions, a court ruling has ensured.
The New York Court of Appeals last week refused to hear an appeal of lower-court rulings that had barred Manafort’s prosecution by the Manhattan district attorney’s office on the grounds of double jeopardy.
The decision by the state’s highest court comes less than two months after then-President Trump pardoned Manafort for his federal convictions.
A spokesman for Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. declined to comment on the decision, which was first reported by The New York Times. Vance cannot appeal the decision to any other court.
Vance’s office is currently considering whether to prosecute another 2016 Trump campaign chief, Steven Bannon, who himself recently was pardoned by Trump while facing federal fraud charges in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Because Bannon was not even tried yet in that case, much less convicted, the issue of double jeopardy is not expected to preclude him being prosecuted by Vance.
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