(Bloomberg) -- Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort can't be prosecuted by New York state over the same conduct that landed him in prison on federal charges, a New York appeals court ruled.
The state appellate court in Manhattan on Thursday upheld the earlier dismissal of the mortgage-fraud charges on double-jeopardy grounds, saying it is “undisputed that the federal charges of which defendant has already been convicted involve the same fraud, against the same victims.”
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. launched an investigation of Manafort in 2017 but halted it after U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller began a similar probe. Manafort was convicted in 2018 of lying to authorities about tens of millions of dollars he earned as a political consultant in Ukraine and misleading banks about his financial health to get loans. Both prosecutions claim he lied in mortgage applications for properties in New York.
The New York prosecution has been widely viewed as a hedge in case President Donald Trump decides to pardon his 2016 campaign chairman, as the president's pardon powers don't apply to state cases. The district attorney had argued that double jeopardy didn't apply because his case seeks to address different harms from the federal charges.
Vance can appeal Thursday's ruling to the state's top court in Albany. Danny Frost, a spokesman for the district attorney, didn't have an immediate comment on the decision.
Manafort, who also pleaded guilty in a separate federal case charging him with illegal foreign lobbying, money laundering and witness tampering, was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison. He was released to home confinement in May as part of an effort to protect inmates from the coronavirus.
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