Seeking to shed the Manafort family name, the daughter of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman filed an adult petition for change of name late Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court. Jessica Manafort, 36, is seeking “to separate” herself from her father, Paul Manafort.
Manafort said she is using the name Bond “not to hide, but to separate myself from everything going on because it has nothing to do with me or my work.” Her father – Paul Manafort – was found guilty last month on eight of eighteen counts of tax and bank fraud. He faces a second trial in Washington D.C. later this month.
“I would like my new name to be Jessica Anne Bond, in place of my present name,” Manafort indicated in the legal filing. Her mother Kathleen’s maiden name is Bond, which Jessica Manafort told the New York Post “more closely suits [her] profession.”
The independent filmmaker indicated that she filed for the name change “to separate myself and my work from a public perception that has nothing to do with the person that I am.” A Manhattan Supreme Court Judge has yet to approve the petition.
Manafort is named as director under the pseudonym “Jess Bond” in her latest film. Starring Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub, “Rosy” was released by indie distributor The Orchard on video-on-demand platforms in mid-July.
Manafort-turned-Bond told the Los Angeles Times last month that she is a “passionate liberal and a registered Democrat and [the legal proceeding] has been tough for me. Although I am ‘the daughter of,’ I am very much my own person and hopefully people can realize that.”
Manafort recently divorced Jeffrey Yohai, a Los Angeles real estate developer, who – in a separate criminal probe – plead guilty to federal charges related to his business dealings. The terms of his plea agreement are under seal, but Yohai is expected to cooperate with investigators looking into his former father-in-law’s alleged crimes.
