It looks like being a criminal runs in the Manafort family. Paul Manafort's former son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai, was sentenced to a whopping in 9 years in prison for a variety of financial crimes that scammed victims out of over $6 million.
Politico reports that Yohai, a wanna-be real estate developer, was called a "serial scammer," and was labeled a "significant threat to the public" by Judge Andre Birotte Jr. The Court also said that Yohai's schemes showed “sophistication” and an “evil mind," and that Yohai clearly believed he “could do anything he wanted."
Yohai, who was facing a significantly longer sentence for his crimes, pleaded guilty (take note, Lori Loughlin.) Some of the charges Yohai pleaded guilty to were fraud, renting out luxury homes *without permission of the owners* (WHAT?) selling fake backstage passes for Coachella, and selling musical equipment that he did not own. He also scammed some very famous people, including Dustin Hoffman and photographer, Guy Aroch.
In a court filing, the Prosecutor wrote:
“Defendant has done tremendous damage to a huge number of victims, has shown an almost unbelievable compulsion to defraud others, to the point that he could not stop even while awaiting this court’s judgment on him in the first case, which strongly suggests that he will continue on his criminal path despite having been blessed with so many advantages. Worse, he seems to enjoy committing fraud and revels in cheating others out of their hard-earned money, as though he thought real work was only for patsies."
Prosecutors were asking for a 15 year prison sentence, so the 9 years he got is a substantial reduction. He was also ordered to pay $6.7 million in restitution.
Yohai's former father-in-law, and former Donald Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is serving 7-1/2 years in prison for his tax and fraud charges. I wonder if they can share a cell?
The family that crimes together, right?
