A US judge overseeing the upcoming second trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has approved the prosecution's request to allow evidence about Manafort's lobbying activities in the 1980s but limited the scope of what it can show.

The ruling by Judge Amy Berman Jackson yesterday represents a partial win for Special Counsel Robert Mueller ahead of Manafort's second trial, which is set to begin next month in Jackson's federal courtroom in Washington.

Ms Jackson said she wanted to limit the scope of what the government introduces in order to avoid a "trial within a trial" that would involve reviewing reams of evidence.

The prosecution said it would like to introduce evidence to rebut the defence argument that Manafort did not know rules on foreign lobbying.

Notified

Ms Jackson ordered both sides to agree to a stipulation showing Manafort was notified of lobbying disclosure rules in the 1980s, which would be in place of the government submitting all of its proposed evidence to the jury.

Mr Mueller already scored a victory last week when a jury in Alexandria, Virginia, convicted Manafort on eight counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to declare his foreign bank accounts, a verdict punishable by up to 80 years in prison.

The cases against Manafort resulted from Mr Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Manafort worked for Republican Donald Trump's successful campaign for several months, including serving as chairman.

Manafort now faces a seven-count indictment in the Washington trial.

The charges include allegations of money laundering, obstruction of justice and failing to register as a foreign agent for his lobbying on behalf of pro-Russian politicians from Ukraine.

Mr Mueller's prosecutors had argued to include evidence at trial that Manafort had been subject in the 1980s to Justice Department inspections related to his lobbying for foreign governments to show that he was aware of the disclosure requirements under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The government says the 1980s inspections uncovered 18 instances of lobbying and public relations activities that should have been disclosed, a revelation that prompted Manafort to resign as director of a federal agency in 1986.

One government request seeks to show that Manafort for years falsely claimed tax deductions on a Trump Tower condo he bought in New York City in 2006 for $3.7m, by saying it was used solely for business purposes.

Prosecutors allege that in January 2015, Manafort sought to borrow on the unit and bolster his teetering finances by directing his tax preparer to tell the lender it was a personal residence.

Prosecutors also asked to introduce new evidence related to the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm, to which Manafort allegedly funneled $4m from offshore accounts he controlled in Cyprus.

Rival

The money in question, prosecutors say, was to pay for a 2012 report supporting the imprisonment by Manafort's client, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, of his political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Prosecutors want to argue that Manafort and others arranged for Skadden - where attorney Gregory B Craig, former Obama White House counsel, was leading the project - to appear to be retained for $12,000, instead of for millions, to circumvent Ukrainian contracting rules.

They also want to show that Manafort and subordinates structured what they say were "sham loans" between Cyprus entities they controlled to hide income from the US Treasury.

Finally, Mueller's office asked to submit evidence of undisclosed lobbying by Manafort dating to 1986 to show that he had an insider expert's knowledge of US reporting requirements for agents of foreign governments.

Irish Independent