To prove this charge, the government must prove that (1) there was an agreement to commit money laundering, and (2) the defendant joined the agreement knowing its purpose and intending to further it. The second charge is a conspiracy to launder money in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h). The government's theory is that Manafort and Gates conspired to hide their foreign agent status, hide their foreign agent income, and launder the proceeds. To secure a conviction on this charge the government must prove (1) that there was an agreement between two or more people to pursue an unlawful objective (like a violation of a federal statute or fraud against the federal government), (2) that the particular defendant knew of the unlawful objective and voluntarily agreement to join the conspiracy, and (3) that someone committed an 'overt act' - a step towards the conspiracy's objective. This indictment does that - it says Manafort and Gates conspired to violate federal statutes - but also uses the less familiar 'defraud the United States' language of the statute. The lead charge is conspiracy (1) to defraud the United States and (2) to fail to file reports of foreign bank accounts, to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, and to make false statements to the government, all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 Section 371 is commonly used to describe a conspiracy to violate a particular federal statute - like a conspiracy to distribute drugs or rob a bank. The Manafort/Gates indictment is a fairly standard 'kitchen sink' white collar indictment that illustrates the wide array of tools available to federal prosecutors, as well as the power prosecutors have to use an investigation to provoke further federal crimes as leverage against the foolish.

The grand jury is more accurately viewed as a tool rather than as a significant limit on prosecutorial power. The grand jury does nothing but vote to agree that there's probable cause to bring these charges. The prosecutor - here the Special Counsel - selects what evidence to present to the grand jury, selects the proposed charges, and drafts and presents the proposed indictment to the grand jury. As I've explained in past lawsplainers, that's not how grand juries work.

So the federal grand jury looked at all of the evidence against Manafort and selected these charges against him and Gates? The indictment is many places online including here. Mueller has secured a substantial indictment against former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and his colleague Richard Gates.

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