LOL. Manafort's lawyers thought they could get a charge thrown out due to statute of limitations.

[pnwmom]

But Mueller was a few hundred steps ahead of them . . . In June 2017 he anticipated the problem and got a secret court order to SUSPEND the statute on that charge, on the grounds that much of the information he needed was still in a foreign country.

It is always so heartening to see Mueller dotting his i's and crossing his t's.

Mueller's full court filing is at the link.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/manafort-mueller-secret-order-foreign-bank-statute-of-limitations

Because investigators were relying on a foreign government to produce certain evidence, Mueller last June asked a magistrate judge in Virginia to suspend the statute of limitations on the charge that Manafort failed to to file a Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR), according to the filing. Mueller ultimately brought that charge against Manafort in February. The judge’s decision granting Mueller’s request to suspend the statute of limitations was previously under seal, but was included in Monday’s filings.

The revelation came in a response to Manafort’s motion to dismiss the FBAR charge in the Eastern District of Virginia, where he is also facing tax fraud and bank fraud charges. That case is in addition to the one brought in Washington, D.C., where Manafort has been charged with money laundering and failure to disclose foreign lobbying.

SNIP

Because the statute of limitations was set to run out on June 29 — five years after the June 29, 2012 deadline Manafort would have faced to file the foreign bank report with the U.S. Treasury — prosecutors on June 26 came to Judge Claude M. Hilton with their request, which was filed ex parte, meaning only the government’s side was aware of it, and not Manafort.

Cyprus’ production of evidence has taken months, according to the filing, and investigators wrote to Cypriot authorities in December informing them that they were still missing some of the Manafort documents they had requested. Cyprus’ government did not respond to the request until April 30 this year, according to Monday’s filing, well after Mueller’s grand jury in Virginia handed down indictments against Manafort in February.

“The bottom line, then, is that Cyprus had not fully satisfied the government’s official request when the original and Superseding Indictment of Manafort were returned on February 13 and 22, respectively,” Mueller said. “As a result, no ‘final action’ had yet occurred as of the date of the operative indictments, and the applicable statute of limitations remained suspended.”

[underpants]

1. So you're saying that Mueller turned back time

Cher if you agree

[The Polack MSgt]

8. And the beat goes on.

[MrScorpio]

13. I'm partial to Buddy Rich

[Moostache]

11. Mueller: "I got you, babe..." (n/t)

[Lee-Lee]

2. Interesting that the order remained sealed even after he was charged

And only was revealed in response to the motion from his defense.

Can anyone more familiar with Federal procedures than I am speak to if this is typical?

It seems almost on the verge of withholding evidence, to allow a defense team to spend time and effort working on a motion when you have a sealed order under file that makes all their work invalid.

At a minimum it seems like it gives the defense grounds for appeal of that ruling on the grounds that critical relevant information was withheld. I don’t want anything to chip away at the prosecutions case here.

[pnwmom]

3. That's a good question and I don't know the official answer but

normally, if within the period of the statute, the prosecutor wouldn't be required to provide this information (that he was working with Cyprus to get the documents.) Should this be different because a suspension was granted?

[marble falls]

4. There are probably other charges failing into the same catagory, so Mueller...

didn't want to make the situation known to Manafort, plus there are are charges that there's an indictment on that were ongoing criminal enterprise. No sense allowing Manafort's lawyer to mitigate exposure before a trial.

[Raven123]

5. What evidence was withheld?

It is up to the defense attorneys to know the law. As far as evidence goes, Mueller did Manafort a favor by not revealing how uncooperative this foreign entity has been. That can't look good.

[Tarc]

10. Not a lawyer, but I don't think running out the clock would be a credible defense

thus no real need to notify the opposition. Mueller's team asked Cyprus for documents, the documents were not coming in a timely manner. I don't think a credible argument can be mounted to counter that.

[Snarkoleptic]

6. Manafort faces a stark choice.

He can flip on Trump and hope for a reduced/suspended sentence AND possibly keep some of his assets.
I suspect he'd favor this route, but Putin sent him a message two months ago by poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter, in the UK.
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-russia-spy-poison-20180328-story.html

Or

He can spend the rest of his life in prison and throw his family into disgrace and financial ruin.

As a traitor, he'll get what he deserves from the justice system, which trumpanzees seem to think is the "deep state".

[Vinca]

9. Or he can catch a private jet to Vladville. Nothing would surprise me.

[Civic Justice]

7. Vile men forsake their soul for money....

Ecclesiastes 5:15
Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.

[NCjack]

12. That outcome made me smile. Manafort must have felt a crushing weight

on his chest when he got the judge's response. Now he wonders: what other adverse surprises await him? Hope he rots in a miserable prison cell and has to buy an extra blanket, a radio, a cup, etc. by ratting on Trump and Co.