Monday, 13 May 2024

Rick Gates’s Lawyers Ask Judge to Spare Him Prison

Lawyers for President Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman argued in a court filing late Monday that he should be spared prison time for his crimes because he cooperated extensively with prosecutors investigating Russia’s efforts to sway the 2016 presidential election and other matters.

The former deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty nearly two years ago to conspiring to commit financial fraud and lying to federal prosecutors. His sentencing has been delayed while he helped prosecutors build and win criminal cases against Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, and Roger J. Stone Jr., Mr. Trump’s longtime friend and former campaign adviser.

In their sentencing memo, Mr. Gates’s lawyers portrayed their client as the consummate cooperating witness.

“We believe that the parties are in agreement that Mr. Gates has fulfilled every obligation he agreed to (and then some) and that he has devoted enormous energy and commitment to this task while telling the truth and maintaining his composure,” the memo said.

It said that Mr. Gates had spent more than 500 hours in interviews with state and federal prosecutors and had provided additional information to Congress in response to subpoenas and requests for interviews.

Those cases included an especially prominent role in the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, of Russia’s efforts to help Mr. Trump win the White House in 2016. Mr. Mueller’s report, released last spring, cited Mr. Gates 63 times. The report put Mr. Gates in the top tier of cooperating witnesses upon whom the special counsel’s team relied.

He also testified against Gregory B. Craig, President Barack Obama’s former White House counsel who was charged with deceiving federal investigators about his work with Mr. Manafort in Ukraine and then acquitted in a trial this year. And Mr. Gates cooperated with an inquiry into Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee.

Experts have said that under sentencing guidelines, Mr. Gates could receive a prison term of four years and nine months to six years for his crimes. But the judge overseeing his case is not required to follow those recommendations.

His lawyers argued that he should be sentenced to probation and spared any fine, and they asked the sentencing judge to consider that Mr. Gates, 47, a father of four, has been unemployed since his indictment and that his wife is ill.

Mr. Gates has admitted to a host of crimes, including tax fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, lying in a deposition and deceiving federal authorities.

In the three trials in which he testified for the prosecution, defense lawyers have portrayed him as morally bankrupt and willing to betray even his dearest friends to escape imprisonment. During Mr. Manafort’s trial, Mr. Gates admitted that he had secretly stolen from Mr. Manafort, his business partner for decades.

“Rick will go wherever the wind takes him, and it just goes to show you that there is no such thing as loyalty and friendship anymore,” Hector Hoyos, a longtime friend of Mr. Manafort’s, testified in that case. Mr. Manafort was ultimately convicted of a string of felonies and is serving a seven-and-a-half year prison sentence.

Mr. Gates is scheduled to be sentenced in two weeks. Prosecutors are expected to file their sentencing recommendations on Tuesday.

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