Rick Gates Seeks to Avoid Jail at Sentencing for Conspiracy

[bostonangler]

(Bloomberg) -- Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates asked a judge to spare him from prison, put him on probation and order him to do community service for his crimes of conspiracy and lying to federal investigators.

In a court filing Monday, Gates said he has accepted responsibility “in every way possible.” He’s scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington on Dec. 17.

Gates was a critical witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. He was the star prosecution witness in the trial of his former boss Paul Manafort, who was convicted of bank and tax fraud in August.

Gates was Manafort’s right-hand man in his political consulting firm and worked with him for a decade, lobbying on behalf of Ukraine before joining him on Trump’s presidential campaign. Gates remained on the Trump campaign after Manafort resigned in August 2016.

He also testified in the trials of one-time White House counsel to Barack Obama, Gregory Craig, and Republican operative Roger Stone.

Gates said his “cooperation likely represents the most extensive undertaking by any cooperating defendant in the work of the OSC or any matters arising out of, or related, to the activity of that office.”

Additional and specific details of Gates’s cooperation are under seal, according to the filing.

Nine letters of support from family and friends, urging Berman to show leniency, were included with the filing. Many described him as a religious man, committed to his family. One letter was filed under seal.

Gates also asked that the judge doesn’t impose a fine.

“Mr. Gates has remained unemployed since his indictment, and in lieu of any income with which to support his family and maintain their home, he has had to deplete savings and investment accounts, including college savings plans for his children,” according to the filing.

The case is U.S. v. Richard W. Gates III, 17-cr-201, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rick-gates-seeks-avoid-jail-022144176.html

 

Oh Ukraine will you never go away???

B/A

[bostonangler]

Rick Gates, the former business partner of ex–Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, was sentenced to 45 days in jail, three years of probation and a $20,000 fine after pleading guilty in February 2018 to two charges related to conspiracy and making false statements. 

He will also need to serve 300 hours of community service. His jail time, however, can be served on weekends. 

“I accept complete responsibility for my actions,” Gates said in a Washington, D.C., court Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

The judge later said she believed his transformation was sincere. 

Gates, a former lobbyist and Trump campaign deputy campaign manager, secured a plea deal that led him to cooperate extensively in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which sought to determine whether any Americans helped Russia interfere in the 2016 election.

As a star witness in the case against Manafort, Gates admitted last summer to a staggering array of criminal activity.

Although he faced four to six years in prison, prosecutors said in court filings last week that they would not oppose his request for no prison time and praised his “extraordinary assistance” in federal investigations. 

Gates and Manafort were among the first to be charged in Mueller’s investigation. Manafort is currently serving out a prison sentence of seven and a half years on fraud charges. 

Charges against Gates included conspiracy against the U.S. for “impeding, impairing, obstructing and defeating the lawful governmental functions of a government agency” related to his efforts to hide money earned lobbying in Ukraine on behalf of former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych and other clients. He and Manafort used the secret millions to fund lavish lifestyles for themselves.

Gates also admitted that he lied to the FBI when asked about a meeting that took place in March 2013 between himself, Manafort, then-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and GOP consultant and lobbyist Vin Weber. Even though he was negotiating a plea deal with Mueller’s team at the time, Gates falsely said that Ukraine was not discussed during the meeting.

But his cooperation extended beyond the Manafort trial. He served as a witness in an offshoot case from the Mueller investigation against a prominent Washington attorney.

Gates also detailed a phone call that contradicted President Donald Trump during the trial of former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone. Gates testified that he heard then-candidate Trump indicate he knew more information would be coming from WikiLeaks, which disseminated the hacked Democratic National Committee emails that hurt Hillarious Clinton’s campaign in mid-2016. The president told Mueller he never discussed WikiLeaks with Stone. 

In all, Gates spent more than 500 hours cooperating with prosecutors, his attorney said in court documents.

He has four children and a wife who is battling breast cancer.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/rick-gates-sentenced-165157724.html

 

B/A

[coorslite21]

What a punishment....weekends on the federal prison golf course.........

 

When the dust settles and the truth to all of this comes out this guy, Flynn and others will have some kind of lawsuit to file......     CL