Paul Manafort has not been having a good year.
Languishing in prison as he awaits both his sentencing hearing after having been found guilty on eight counts of tax and bank fraud — as well as a second trial on the accusations of money laundering, witness tampering, and illegal foreign lobbying — Trump’s former campaign chairman’s only hope of avoiding a lengthy stay in federal prison is if his ex-employer risks awarding a pardon that is sure to bring condemnation of the president’s undermining the rule of law.
Adding insult to injury, The Hill is now reporting that Manafort’s adult daughter has officially applied to change her last name to disassociate herself from her disgraced father.
The 36-year-old Jessica Anne Manafort filed paperwork to adopt her mother’s maiden name as her legal surname.
“I would like my new name to be Jessica Anne Bond, in place of my present name,” the convicted felon’s daughter wrote in her application, explaining that the new moniker “more closely suits my profession.”
Jessica Anne Bond, as she will be known if the petition submitted to the Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday is approved, has already used the surname as a pseudonym in conjunction with her work as an independent filmmaker. Credited as Jess Bond, she released a film called Rosy starring Jackass star Johnny Knoxville and Monk star Tony Shalhoub earlier this summer that is currently available on video-on-demand platforms.
When the film was released, she told The Los Angeles Times that she chose to use a screen name rather than her legal surname “not to hide, but to separate myself from everything going on because it has nothing to do with me or my work.”
“I am a passionate liberal and a registered Democrat and this has been difficult for me. Although I am ‘the daughter of,’ I am very much my own person and hopefully people can realize that,” the filmmaker said, before announcing the plans to legally change her name that were finally put into motion this week.
While the filmmaker waits for her application to be approved, her father can only be further realizing the depth of shame that his illicit actions have brought upon his family, a a shame so great that they no longer even want to be associated with his name.
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