Trump aide led lavish lifestyle

FORMER Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort personally directed millions of dollars in international wire transfers to pay for high-end suits and more than $3 million in improvements at his various houses, witnesses testified on the second day of his financial fraud trial.

The testimony on Wednesday was aimed at bolstering the prosecution’s argument that Manafort hid millions in income from the IRS and used the funds for a lavish lifestyle.

The witness accounts were also intended to contradict Manafort’s lawyers, who have signalled they will pin blame for any illegal conduct on his longtime deputy, Rick Gates.

The prosecution’s focus on Manafort’s personal finances – at times laid out in painstaking detail – underscored the vast amount of documents accumulated by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in their case against the longtime political consultant.

But it also tried the patience of US District Judge TS Ellis, who repeatedly scolded the government’s attorneys for what he said was excessive and unnecessary information.

Mr Ellis, who warned prosecutors against using the word “oligarchs” to describe wealthy Ukrainians, several times admonished them for spending so much time documenting Manafort’s extravagant lifestyle.

It’s not a crime to be wealthy, he noted.

“The government doesn’t want to prosecute somebody because they wear nice clothes, do they?,” Mr Ellis said amid testimony that Manafort had spent more than $900,000 on clothing from a boutique retailer where he was one of only about 40 clients.

“Let’s move on.”

Mr Ellis even called out lawyers from both sides for rolling their eyes.

The trial is the first courtroom test for the special counsel, who was tasked last year with investigating Russia’s efforts to sway the 2016 election and to determine whether the Trump campaign was involved.

So far, Manafort is the lone person to stand trial as a result of the ongoing probe, even though the charges of bank fraud and tax evasion are unrelated to possible collusion.

Prosecutor Greg Andres argued that documenting Manafort’s spending for the jury was important to the case.

“Judge, this is not an effort to prove Mr Manafort lived lavishly,” Mr Andres said. “It’s evidence of his income.”

THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T WANT TO PROSECUTE SOMEBODY BECAUSE THEY WEAR NICE CLOTHES, DO THEY? JUDGE TS ELLIS