Paul Manafort Leaker receives six months in prison, according to judge

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A federal judge said he would sentence a former senior US Treasury Department adviser to six months in prison for leaking confidential financial documents implicating Paul Manafort and others to a reporter.

Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards had admitted that she passed information on payments involving Manafort, the former campaign manager of President Donald Trump, and his deputy, Rick Gates, to a reporter from BuzzFeed. Prosecutors say she provided more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports, or SARs, and other confidential data as of the summer of 2017.

Edwards had top-secret security clearance and access to reports as part of his work with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, which investigates money laundering by studying financial transaction data. .

Edwards, of Quinton, Va., Called on U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan not to impose a jail term. Prosecutors asked for six months. Woods said Thursday that Edwards also had to serve three years probation.

Financial institutions are required to file SARs within 30 days of detecting an incident – such as cash transactions of $ 10,000 or more or those involving certain entities – that could report money laundering, tax evasion or other criminal activity.

In addition to the leaks on Manafort and Gates, Edwards forwarded SARs regarding Prevezon Holdings Ltd., a Russian company pursued by the United States, and Maria Butina, a supposed gun enthusiast who pleaded guilty in 2018 to acting as a Russian agent.

Manafort was convicted in August 2018 of lying to the tax authorities about the tens of millions of dollars he had earned as a political consultant in Ukraine and of deceiving banks about his financial health to obtain loans. . He then pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally lobby for Ukraine, as well as money laundering to support a lavish lifestyle and witness tampering. He was pardoned by Trump.

The case is US v. Edwards, 19-cr-00064, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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