ALEXANDRIA, Virginia \u2014 Prosecutors and defense lawyers were told Tuesday to stop using the word \u201coligarch\u201d to refer to the wealthy, pro-Russia politicians who\u2026<\/b>
\nALEXANDRIA, Virginia \u2014 Prosecutors and defense lawyers were told Tuesday to stop using the word \u201coligarch\u201d to refer to the wealthy, pro-Russia politicians who employed President Donald Trump\u2019s former campaign manager in Ukraine.
Federal Judge T. S. Ellis III said the term was \u201cpejorative\u201d and carried criminal connotations that suggested Paul Manafort \u201cassociated with despicable people, and therefore he is despicable.\u201d
\u201cThat\u2019s not the American way,\u201d Ellis said.
He gave the order before the jury entered the courtroom for day 2 of Manafort\u2019s trial on tax and bank fraud charges brought by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, as part of his probe into suspected collusion between Trump\u2019s campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
Ellis noted that both \u201cMr. Soros\u201d and \u201cMr. Koch\u201d \u2014 apparent references to the politically active liberal financier George Soros and the conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch \u2014 could be considered oligarchs.
\u201cBut we wouldn\u2019t call them oligarchs,\u201d the judge said.
Both sides and a witness used the word \u201coligarch\u201d during the first day of Manafort\u2019s trial, and prosecutors objected to Ellis\u2019 instruction, saying the term was relevant to the case.
Ellis told them to submit arguments in writing.
Manafort, 69, is accused of evading taxes on millions of dollars he got paid by Ukrainian pols, including former President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled the country with Russia\u2019s help when he was ousted by Ukraine\u2019s parliament in February 2014.
Manafort is also accused of lying to American banks to obtain millions of dollars in loans when his Ukrainian consulting and lobbying work dried up.
He faces a second trial in September on related charges of money laundering and failing to register as an agent of a foreign government.<\/p>\n

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