WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, lied to investigators “on a variety of subject matters” and has breached his plea agreement, special counsel Robert Mueller’s office said in a court filing on Monday.
Mueller’s team indicated that they would go into more detail about the nature of his “crimes and lies” in a future filing, but the latest development could mean that Manafort will face more prison time.
Manafort entered a plea agreement in September that staved off a trial on bank fraud charges. Instead, he agreed to plead guilty to two charges of conspiracy, and to cooperate with federal investigators as they probe Russian interference in the 2016 election.
In a separate trial in Northern Virginia that ended in August, he was found guilty of eight charges involving his work for the government of Ukraine. Sentencing in that case is scheduled for Feb. 8.
“After signing the plea agreement, Manafort committed federal crimes by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Special Counsel’s Office on a variety of subject matters, which constitute breaches of the agreement,” the government said in a joint filing with Manafort’s attorneys.
Manafort’s legal team said he has “provided information to the government in an effort to live up to his cooperation obligations. He believes he has provided truthful information and does not agree with the government’s characterization or that he has breached the agreement.”
But Manafort, too, called for the judge, Amy Berman Jackson, to set a sentencing date.