Paul Manafort’s third day on trial over bank fraud and tax evasion – in no way related to President Trump – ended prematurely after government prosecutors made the same mistake, repeatedly.
Law & Crime reports:
The last witness called to the stand was J. Philip Ayliff, a certified public accountant (CPA) at Paul Manafort’s long-serving tax-preparation agency, Kositzka, Wicks and Co. (KWC), of Richmond, Virginia. As time inched along during the last witness’s testimony, nothing of particular interest seemed to be occurring at all.
Ayliff was mostly providing foundational testimony regarding the basic functions of a tax-preparation company. Prosecutors then moved on to specifics and attempted to “publish” one of Manafort’s e-file forms. Judge T.S. Ellis III‘s weariness all but amazed the courtroom as he denied the request–complete with an actual and pronounced finger-wag–before shouting:
No! You move it along!
(It probably hadn’t helped matters that court had just minutes ago returned from a lengthy recess due to the prosecution calling Ayliff out of the witness order provided to both the court and the defense. But as Judge Ellis noted yesterday, he has “a long memory.”)
Ayliff, as noted by Judge Ellis, is not an expert, but his testimony nonetheless had the potential to confuse or cloud things for the jury.
AAN Staff
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