President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was disbarred in Washington on Thursday.
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Manafort would be permanently banned from practicing law in the city after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy against the U.S.
The judges said Manafort’s crimes were a “moral turpitude.”
“Because respondent has been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, the mandatory sanction imposed by statute is to disbar him from the practice of law,” the court said.
Manafort resigned from the Connecticut bar in January.
The former campaign chief is imprisoned at the U.S. Penitentiary Canaan in Waymart, Pa., according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Manafort was convicted of eight financial crimes in Virginia, including bank fraud, tax fraud, and failure to disclose a foreign bank account. In the Washington case, he was accused of illegally lobbying on behalf of Ukrainian interests.
Manafort accepted a plea deal, admitting to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of obstructing justice. However, prosecutors said Manafort lied to investigators after he agreed to cooperate in the case, and thus, they did not have to recommend a reduced sentence.
He was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison total for both cases.
