[Cw67NTN8F]

FBI has virtually unlimited resources and they really want this guy. So, he only made it easier, no doubt they would have caught that even without the paper trail. FBI had access to his corp returns and to his loan application. Everything he has done is under the microscope and unless he can hand Trump on a silver plate, he's toast. He's almost 70 years old and you're talking about 20 years sentences.

When you deal with Russians crooks and people in those circles, you tend to lower your guard. You think you will not get caught "because in Ukraine they had money in suitcases," or through a gazillion shell companies. The funny thing is that he might have just gotten away, if he wasn't involved in the Trump campaign. Call it greed or money mismanagement, but knowing when to quit may mean life or death (kinda)

[threeseed]

The other factor at play is presidential pardons.

Manafort pleading innocent could be a strategy to appear as the victim of the "deep state".

[Cw67NTN8F]

Not a lawyer, but IMO someone has to go to jail. All this money spent, the media and Mueller isn't going to end his career shooting blanks.

You can plead however you want to, but if the evidence is crystal clear, you're toast. Even if Trump pardons him, NY would step in http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/333370-ny-ag-investi... , apparently a lot of the laundering took place in NY (get paid in foreign bank from foreign sources; don't declare to IRS+State; pay suppliers and mortgages from that account directly, without declaring it. Millions and millions of it, not chump change)

Decisions, decisions. Give up Trump (if he is hiding something) and kinda go to witness protection because they'll get sued for decades or life in jail.

[eCa]

A minor point, but accepting a pardon carries a confession of guilt.