Paul Manafort's Ex-Son-In-Law Sentenced To 9 Years For Fraud Charges, Swindles $3M From Dustin Hoffman
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The former son-in-law of ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced in Los Angeles Friday to nine years behind bars for running two fraud schemes, one of which included Dustin Hoffman.
Jeffrey Yohai pleaded guilty to a slue of charges including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud.
The 37-year-old was once married to Manafort's daughter Jessica. Now, prosecutors say he is responsible for a scheme that frauded his victims of millions of dollars, including actor Dustin Hoffman and his son Jacob.
Yohai reportedly swindled $3 million from the actor and his son in a bogus real estate deal involving a home in the Hollywood Hills.
He reportedly promised to renovate and sell the home, sending the Hoffman's part of the profit. Prosecutors say he instead kept the money for himself and paid off his own debt. He reportedly told the Hoffman's that the deal was still moving forward.
"This is an individual who has an evil mind -- I don't know how else to say it," U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. said. "It seems he felt he could do whatever he wants --but that buck stops here."
Yohai also rented homes he did not own and sold non-existent artist passes to the Coachella Music & Arts Festival, federal prosecutors said.
"In both the old and the new offenses, Yohai usually obtains someone else's money for a purportedly legitimate purpose, such as an investment, but uses the money for personal expenses, or to pay pre-existing debts, and then lulls the victim into believing that the money has been properly used," prosecutors stated in court papers.
Yohai "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," Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Brown wrote.
Yohai divorced Jessica Manafort -- who attended his sentencing hearing -- in August 2017. His former father-in-law was found guilty that month on eight counts of financial crimes and is currently serving a sentence of 7 1/2 years in federal prison.
He was also ordered to pay $6.7 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
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