So Manafort used to be a practicing attorney with a law degree from Georgetown

[FM123]

So how could he "not know" he was breaking all kinds of laws?
Not very likely.

[marble falls]

1. He practiced but never got good at it.

[alwaysinasnit]

2. I think he should be held to a higher standard of knowledge if he is an attorney.

[former9thward]

3. No attorney knows all the laws.

There are tens of thousands of them. And most laws have dozens and sometimes hundreds of sub-sections. That is why any good attorney specializes in one or maybe two areas of the law. Attorneys normally rely on other attorneys for advice with their own affairs. Whether Manafort did I don't know.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. While Certainly True. . .

. . .isn't it fair to say that if a GOOD lawyer was going to get involved in something like these meetings with the Russians, they might investigate whether that was legal or not?

[former9thward]

6. Manafort is not charged with that.

The Russian investigation has nothing to do with these charges. That is why Mueller dumped the case onto another prosecutor.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Fair Enough

My fault!
But he obviously knew, in this case, he was "working" the system
He either should have checked, or he knew it was illegal

[former9thward]

9. Many, many lawyers get charged with crimes.

They think they are clever enough to game the system. Sometimes they can -- maybe most of the time.

[Blue_true]

16. Ok.

So if your financial advise people told you that they were opening up offshore accounts to funnel your earnings into, wouldn't you ask them more questions and maybe do some research on your own? You may not, but I certainly would.

[pnwmom]

8. Any attorney knows it's against the law to hide millions of dollars in offshore accounts

and fail to pay taxes on them.

Any attorney knows that when you sign a tax return you're signing it under oath.

[former9thward]

10. Yes but your assumptions have a prosecutor bias.

I don't assume what the prosecutor says is true because I have long experience knowing it sometimes is not.

[pnwmom]

11. Which of my assumptions? All I said was that an attorney would know you can't

hide money in offshore accounts and not pay taxes on them.

[former9thward]

12. You are assuming Manafort hid accounts offshore illegally.

And you are assuming he did not pay required taxes. And you are assuming his signature on a tax return (prepared by others) implied knowledge of everything in (or not in) the return.

[pnwmom]

13. The OP assumed. I was just responding to your reaction to the OP. And you indicated

that you didn't expect an attorney would know those things, and I disagree.

[Blue_true]

17. Have you ever read the lines just before your signature on your tax returns?

Your signature says agreement with the contents of the return. Oh, you didn't know that someone handling your money didn't pay $15 million in taxes before you signed. Oh boy, looks like big trouble for YOU!!!!

[Blue_true]

14. True, that is the same with ANY profession.

But a good professional know to check that what he or she is doing isn't dangerous or illegal.

[former9thward]

15. I would hope so...

But I have seen that hope fail on many occasion.

[Blue_true]

18. If I blow someone up who was helping me because I didn't educate

myself on mixing chemicals that I had never dealt with, I am liable, simple as that.

[former9thward]

19. Not sure what a civil issue would have to do with a criminal trial.

So I don't think the analogy works...

[Blue_true]

20. My point is that if a person had criminal stuff done on behalf of himself.

Even if he claims ignorance after benefitting from the largess and signing off on fraudulent tax documents, if I were on a jury, I would view that person as in on the crime and he or she would have to convince me they were not. At some point coincidences become overwhelming.

[UTUSN]

5. K&R

[Glimmer of Hope]

21. He is rather stupid for someone who went to a top tier law school.