NEW YORK >> Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman of President Donald Trump who’s already behind bars in Pennsylvania on a federal conviction, is close to being transferred to New York City to face state fraud charges, two people familiar with the matter said today.

Manafort, 70, could be arraigned on the state charges as early as next week and then begin a stay at the city’s notorious jail complex on Rikers Island until the case is resolved, the people said.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. made a request for his office to pick up Manafort at the federal lockup under a law providing for the transfer of prisoners under indictment in another jurisdiction, they added.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the case. The transfer request was first reported by the New York Times.

State prosecutors and federal and local corrections officials declined to comment. Manafort’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to messages. </s> Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort could be headed to Rikers Island, the notorious jail complex in New York City, if prosecutors get their way.

New York prosecutors are seeking to move Manafort from the western Pennsylvania prison where he is serving his federal sentence to Rikers Island for the duration of a state case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

But Manafort’s legal team hopes that won’t be where he stays as he faces the New York charges. Manafort hasn’t been told where he’ll be held yet, according to his defense attorney, Todd Blanche. Blanche acknowledged that Rikers was a possible place Manafort could go—and that it’s even likely.

It’s not yet clear when Manafort will make the move, but it won’t be this week, according to a source.

The move would mean he almost certainly would be back in solitary confinement for months, similar to the conditions that Manafort’s lawyers said led to a deterioration of his health ahead of his federal trial in Virginia and around his guilty plea on federal charges in Washington DC. He was held for months at the Alexandria Detention Center in Northern Virginia in protective custody, but not solitary confinement, kept away from others except for a few hours a day for his own safety.

Rikers Island has a notorious reputation for both its violence and its poor conditions. The US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York reached a settlement with the city in 2015 after a multi-year investigation found adolescent inmates were not protected from “the rampant use of unnecessary and excessive force by New York City Department of Correction staff and violence inflicted by other inmates.”

Manafort is currently serving his sentence at the penitentiary in Loretto, Pennsylvania, in the rural western part of the state.

“I’m hopeful he’ll be returned to Loretto after he’s arraigned” as he awaits the New York City trial, Blanche said. Manafort will likely be arraigned soon after he’s taken to New York, even as quickly as on the same day.

He was sentenced in March to seven and a half years in prison for federal tax fraud, bank fraud and foreign lobbying violation stemming from two cases from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.

Less than an hour later, Vance announced a 16-count criminal indictment charging Manafort with state crimes, including residential mortgage fraud and falsifying business records.

President Donald Trump said late last year that he hadn’t discussed a possible pardon for Manafort, but he has expressed sympathy for his former campaign chairman. While Trump could pardon Manafort for federal crimes, his authority doesn’t extend to state charges.

Vance’s office waited until after Manafort was sentenced to announce the indictment, which was handed up a week earlier. At the time, Vance said, “No one is beyond the law in New York.”

The state charges are likely to be challenged under the notion of double jeopardy, which prohibits the prosecution of someone twice for the same offense. New York’s state legislature passed a bill last month that would allow state charges against an individual pardoned by a president, but the law is not retroactive and would not apply to Manafort.

After Manafort is transferred to New York, he will soon after be arraigned before a judge on the state charges.

Manafort follows a line of other celebrities accused of crimes who have been in Rikers, including Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former director of the International Monetary Fund, who was accused of sexual assault, as well as rappers Lil’ Wayne and Tupac Shakur. </s> Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign manager who was sentenced earlier this year to four years in prison for financial crimes, will be moved to New York City’s infamous Rikers Island prison, it has been reported.

Manafort, 70, whose crimes stemmed from work he did advising politicians in Ukraine, has until now been incarcerated at a minimum security facility in Pennsylvania.

But sources close to Manafort told Fox News that a New York State judge ordered his relocation to Rikers Island.

Manafort, who was sentenced in March to more than seven years in federal prison, is expected to be transferred to Rikers Island on Thursday.

The request to move Manafort to Rikers Island was made by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

Presumably, Vance made the request as Manafort has been indicted in New York State on 16 felony charges.

Vance announced the charges against Manafort back in March. They include residential mortgage fraud and falsifying business records to commit fraud.

Manafort is alleged to have lied on mortgage applications in order to obtain loans.

'No one is beyond the law in New York,' Vance said in a statement at the time.

'Following an investigation commenced by our office in March 2017, a Manhattan grand jury has charged Mr. Manafort with state criminal violations which strike at the heart of New York’s sovereign interests, including the integrity of our residential mortgage market.'

If convicted, Manafort would not be eligible for a pardon from President Trump since the president’s pardon powers do not apply to state crimes.

Manafort will be held in solitary confinement for his own protection at Rikers Island.

The jail on Rikers Island, the 413-acre island to the north of LaGuardia Airport, is known as one of America’s most troubled correctional facilities.

Last year, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio presented a plan to shut down the jail in a process that is expected to play out over a period of up to 10 years.

But a New York state agency is recommending a speedier timeline for the jail’s closure due to a rise in ‘violence incidents and degrading conditions.’

Calls for the jail to be shut down intensified in recent years as the public learned more about the tragic case of Kalief Browder.

In 2010, Browder, an African American teen from The Bronx, was arrested and sent to Rikers Island jail at age 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack.

He was held for three years in jail without trial - two of those years in solitary confinement.

Shortly after his release, he killed himself after numerous suicide attempts.

Browder maintained his innocence. He was never tried or found guilty of any crime.

The Browder case has been cited by advocates of criminal justice reform since the boy was never able to afford the $3,000 bail, thus resulting in his extended stay at Rikers before he stood trial.

At Rikers Island about 85 per cent of the inmates have not been convicted of a crime and are either being held on bail or remanded to custody, according to the City of New York.

There are an estimated 10,000 inmates at Rikers Island.

Manafort was convicted in federal court after prosecutors accused him of hiding from the U.S. government millions of dollars he earned as a consultant for Ukraine’s former pro-Russia government.

After pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster, prosecutors said, Manafort lied to banks to secure loans and maintain an opulent lifestyle with luxurious homes, designer suits and even a $15,000 ostrich-skin jacket. </s> Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort departs from U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., February 28, 2018.

Manafort, now serving a federal sentence of 7½ years in prison in connection with charges lodged by special counsel Robert Mueller , faces pending felony charges of mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records in New York state.

Those charges contained in an indictment were unveiled by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in March, just minutes after Manafort, 70, was sentenced for the second time on federal charges.

Vance's spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.

But a process currently is underway to arrange for the transfer of Manafort from his current home in a minimum security federal correctional facility in Loretto, Pennsylvania, to New York to be arraigned in the state case.

Todd Blanche, Manafort's criminal defense lawyer in New York, told CNBC on Tuesday that he expects Manafort to be sent to the Big Apple in coming weeks.

"I don't believe it's this week," Blanche said. "But I do believe it's soon."

Blanche said that contrary to earlier reports about Manafort's imminent transfer, "I don't know that there's a decision that's been made on" whether to keep Manafort in the jail complex at Rikers Island, where violence among inmates and between guards and inmates is a chronic problem.

Fox News first reported Monday night that Manafort would be sent to Rikers Island, a sprawling jail complex located between the boroughs of the Bronx and Queens, and that he is expected to arrive there by Thursday. A source quoted by Fox said that Manafort will be held in solitary confinement for his own protection.

The New York Times published a story Tuesday saying Manafort would be sent to Rikers and likely would be held in isolation.

Prisoners awaiting trial on state charges in Manhattan are routinely held on Rikers.

However, some such prisoners at held at another jail, the Manhattan Detention Center, while some others with medical needs are held in a jail facility at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

Blanche said he does not believe that Manafort should be kept in any jail in New York pending his trial there.

"I believe that he should be returned to his designated facility [Loretto] until trial, and when there's a trial he comes back," Blanche said.

The lawyer said Loretto is a more appropriate place for Manafort because "he can participate in programs" and can have his medical needs addressed.

"It's a much better environment for a 70-year-old man," Blanche said.

"I'm not sure why the state needs to keep him [in New York] for six months or more months," Blanche said.

A spokesman for the New York court system told CNBC there is no date currently scheduled for Manafort to be arraigned on the state charges. </s> NEW YORK (Reuters) - Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman who was convicted of tax and bank fraud, may be transferred to Rikers Island jail in New York to face state criminal charges, a person familiar with the matter said.

Manafort, 70, is serving a combined sentence of 7-1/2 years in prison from two separate federal criminal cases, the longest term of anyone stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and contacts between Moscow and Trump’s campaign.

The veteran Republican political operative, who was paid millions of dollars for his work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, had been expected to be transferred to New York state custody in June, another person familiar with the matter said.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

Defendants facing charges brought by the Manhattan District Attorney are typically held at Rikers Island, a troubled jail complex that handles about 9,000 people a day, another city jail known as the Tombs, or Bellevue hospital, if a defendant has a medical condition.

According to the New York City Department of Corrections, a judge will decide whether he will be entering their custody.

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Manafort did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Manafort was charged by prosecutors in New York in March with residential mortgage fraud and other felonies, as state lawmakers moved to ensure that he can be prosecuted even if he receives a presidential pardon from Trump. Presidents possess the power to issue pardons for federal crimes, not state crimes.

Prosecutors said the charges involved a scheme in which Manafort and others falsified records to obtain millions of dollars related to property loans. Manafort faces up to 25 years in prison on the three most serious charges in the latest indictment, residential mortgage fraud in the first degree.

Manafort was convicted by a Virginia jury last year on tax and bank fraud charges and pleaded guilty in Washington to charges including unregistered lobbying and witness tampering. </s> March 13 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s former presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been indicted in New York on fresh charges of residential mortgage fraud, state prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Shortly after Manafort’s sentencing on federal conspiracy charges in Washington, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced that the indictment was filed in state Supreme Court last Thursday. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Tim Ahmann) </s> NEW YORK – Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, who is already behind bars in Pennsylvania on a federal conviction, is close to being transferred into custody in New York City to face state fraud charges, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Manafort could be arraigned on the state charges as early as next week and then begin a stay at the city’s notorious jail complex on Rikers Island until the case is resolved, the people said.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. made a request for his office to pick up Manafort at the federal lockup using a law providing for the transfer of prisoners under indictment in another jurisdiction, they added.

Trump in Europe: Donald Trump reopens 'nasty' feud with Meghan Markle and hits Joe Biden on eve of D-Day ceremony

The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the case. The transfer request was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times.

State prosecutors and federal and local corrections officials declined to comment. Manafort’s lawyers didn’t immediately respond to messages.

Manafort, 70, now faces the prospect of becoming an inmate at Rikers Island, a facility that has faced years of complaints about violence by guards and gang members, mistreatment of the mentally ill and unjustly long detention for minor offenders. He likely would be placed in protective custody because of his high profile.

In March, Manafort was sentenced to 7 and a half years in prison on federal charges brought by former special counsel Robert Mueller, who accused him of misleading the U.S. government about his lucrative foreign lobbying work and for encouraging witnesses to lie on his behalf.

Immediately after the sentence was imposed, New York prosecutors unsealed a 16-count indictment accusing him of giving false information on mortgage loan applications.

Trump and Bette Midler: President Donald Trump bashes Bette Midler after she apologized for sharing fake quote

Trump-Mexico: Donald Trump says he hopes Mexico can avoid tariffs by stopping migrants

The new case appeared designed at least in part to protect against the possibility that Trump could pardon Manafort, who led the celebrity businessman’s 2016 White House bid for months. The president can pardon federal crimes but not state offenses.

New York lawmakers doubled down on the issue in May by passing a bill meant to ensure state prosecutors could pursue charges against anyone granted a presidential pardon for similar federal crimes.

The legislation, supported by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, revises the local double jeopardy law to protect the state’s ongoing investigations into the Republican president and his associates. </s> WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman is going to jail.

Paul Manafort was ordered into custody Friday after a federal judge revoked his house arrest, citing newly filed obstruction of justice charges. The move by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson came after prosecutors accused Manafort and a longtime associate of witnesses tampering.

Manafort is the first Trump campaign official to be jailed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. His attorneys have argued that Manafort didn’t do anything wrong and accused prosecutors of conjuring a “sinister plot” out of “innocuous” contacts with witnesses.

Manafort will remain in jail while he awaits two trials in the next few months. He faces several felony charges related to his Ukrainian political work and money he funneled through offshore accounts. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's, former campaign chairman (all times local):

President Donald Trump is weighing in on a judge's decision to jail his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort while he awaits trial.

Trump says in a tweet he "didn't know Manafort was the head of the Mob" and asks, "What about Comey and Crooked Hillary and all of the others? Very unfair!"

The president also referred incorrectly to Manafort's pre-trial detention, calling it a "tough sentence." Manafort hasn't been convicted of any crimes or sentenced to prison.

His jailing Friday came after he was accused of attempting to tamper with witnesses in his criminal case while he was on house arrest. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found that in light of the new charges, she couldn't trust he would follow her orders.

President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman is going to jail.

Paul Manafort was ordered into custody Friday after a federal judge revoked his house arrest, citing newly filed obstruction of justice charges. The move by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson came after prosecutors accused Manafort and a longtime associate of witnesses tampering.

Manafort is the first Trump campaign official to be jailed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. His attorneys have argued that Manafort didn't do anything wrong and accused prosecutors of conjuring a "sinister plot" out of "innocuous" contacts with witnesses.

Manafort will remain in jail while he awaits two trials in the next few months. He faces several felony charges related to his Ukrainian political work and money he funneled through offshore accounts.
Paul Manafort, former chief of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, is set to be sent from federal prison to the New York City jail on Rikers Island.