Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the Atlantic
and Maryland Reporters. Users are requested to notify the Clerk of the Court of
any formal errors so that corrections may be made before the bound volumes go
to press.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
No. 18-BG-1317
IN RE PAUL J. MANAFORT, JR., RESPONDENT.
An Inactive Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
(Bar Registration No. 247486)
On Report and Recommendation
Of the Board on Professional Responsibility
(DDN 288-18)
(Decided May 9, 2019)
Before FISHER and GLICKMAN, Associate Judges, and STEADMAN, Senior
Judge.
PER CURIAM: In this case, the Board on Professional Responsibility has
recommended that respondent Paul J. Manafort, Jr., be disbarred from the practice
of law in the District of Columbia after he pled guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice
2
by tampering with witnesses while on pre-trial release 1 and conspiracy against the
United States. 2 Neither respondent nor Disciplinary Counsel filed exceptions to the
Board’s report. In response to this court’s January 10, 2019, order imposing an
interim suspension, respondent filed his D.C. Bar R. XI, § 14(g) affidavit on
February 28, 2019.
Under D.C. Bar R. XI, § 9(h)(2), “if no exceptions are filed to the Board’s
report, the [c]ourt will enter an order imposing the discipline recommended by the
Board upon the expiration of the time permitted for filing exceptions.” See also In
re Viehe, 762 A.2d 542, 543 (D.C. 2000) (“When . . . there are no exceptions to the
Board’s report and recommendation, our deferential standard of review becomes
even more deferential.”). Although we have not previously held that a violation of
18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1)3 is a crime of moral turpitude per se, we have found that
convictions of other subsections of this statute addressing witness and evidence
1
18 U.S.C. § 371, including conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1).
2
18 U.S.C. § 371, including conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1956 (money
laundering); 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) (tax fraud); 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a) and 22 U.S.C. §§
612 & 618(a)(2) (lying to the Department of Justice), as well as other offenses.
3
“Whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades
another person, or attempts to do so, or engages in misleading conduct toward
another person, with intent to influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any
person in an official proceeding.”
3
tampering constitute crimes of moral turpitude per se. See, e.g., In re Johnson, 48
A.3d 170, 173 (D.C. 2012) (18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(2)); 4 In re Blair, 40 A.3d 883, 884
(D.C. 2012) (18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3)). 5 Each of these subsections prohibits an
attempt to obstruct justice by attempting to induce an individual to withhold
evidence and we see no reason to treat convictions from the three subsections
differently. We have held that a conviction for conspiracy to commit a crime of
moral turpitude is a crime of moral turpitude. See, e.g., In re Lickstein, 972 A.2d
314, 316 (D.C. 2009). Because respondent has been convicted of a crime of moral
turpitude, the mandatory sanction imposed by statute is to disbar him from the
practice of law. 6 See In re Colson, 412 A.2d 1160, 1165 (D.C. 1979) (en banc).
4
“Whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades
another person, or attempts to do so, or engages in misleading conduct toward
another person, with intent to cause or induce any person to withhold testimony, or
withhold a record, document, or other object, from an official proceeding; alter,
destroy, mutilate, or conceal an object with intent to impair the object's integrity or
availability for use in an official proceeding; evade legal process summoning that
person to appear as a witness, or to produce a record, document, or other object, in
an official proceeding; or be absent from an official proceeding to which such person
has been summoned by legal process.”
5
“Whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades
another person, or attempts to do so, or engages in misleading conduct toward
another person, with intent to hinder, delay, or prevent the communication to a law
enforcement officer or judge of the United States of information relating to the
commission or possible commission of a Federal offense or a violation of conditions
of probation supervised release, parole, or release pending judicial proceedings.”
6
D.C. Code § 11-2503(a) (2012 Repl.).
4
Accordingly, it is
ORDERED that Paul J. Manafort, Jr. is hereby disbarred from the practice of
law in the District of Columbia, nunc pro tunc to February 28, 2019.
So ordered.