Sunday, March 18, 2018

Mueller Investigation: Gates Deal Violates Federal Policy

Despite the prevalence of tax charges in the Virginia indictment, note that Mueller did not demand that Gates plead guilty to any of them, either.

In his sensational narrative of the two-count case to which Gates is pleading guilty, the special counsel "Informs the Court" that Gates and Manafort "Generated tens of millions of dollars in income" through allegedly illegitimate business in Ukraine and then "Laundered the money through scores of United States corporations, partnerships, and bank accounts." But after all this heavy breathing, we learn that Mueller does not charge Gates with money-laundering conspiracy - an offense for which, to repeat, Congress prescribes a penalty of up to 20 years' incarceration.

Mueller has cut out of the conspiracy to which Gates was required to plead guilty the FBAR counts that actually involve Gates himself.

That is, having already spared Gates from the money-laundering, tax-fraud, and bank-fraud charges announced with such fanfare, Mueller is also shielding Gates from his own alleged FBAR violations.

Mueller does not charge Congress's FBAR conspiracy; he charges Gates under Section 371's catch-all provision, effectively slicing the penalty term in half.

As I pointed out when Mueller first indicted Manafort and Gates, there is no such offense in federal law as "Conspiracy against the United States." What Section 371 criminalizes is conspiracy "To defraud the United States".

These charges against Gates and Manafort have nothing to do with "Collusion with Russia," the investigation for which Rosenstein appointed Mueller.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/03/muellers-investigation-flouts-justice-department-standards/

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