NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York state’s highest court has rejected the Manhattan district attorney’s effort to prosecute Paul Manafort, the onetime campaign chairman for former U.S. President Donald Trump, on state fraud charges.
The decision by the Court of Appeals was confirmed on Monday by a court spokesman.
It ends Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s attempt to prosecute Manafort on 16 felony counts, including mortgage fraud, that were similar to charges for which Manafort had been convicted in federal court and had been pardoned by Trump.
A spokesman for Vance declined to comment. A lawyer for Manafort did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The decision was reported earlier by The New York Times.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)
