Mueller hit Manafort with further charges
WASHINGTON: Dramatically escalating the pressure and stakes, special counsel Robert Mueller filed additional criminal charges against US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman and his business associate.
The filing adds allegations of tax evasion and bank fraud and significantly increases the legal jeopardy facing Paul Manafort, who managed Mr Trump’s campaign for several months in 2016, and longtime associate Rick Gates. Both had already faced the prospect of at least a decade in prison if convicted at trial.
The two men were initially charged in a 12-count indictment in October that accused them of a multimillion-dollar money-laundering conspiracy tied to lobbying work for a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party. Mr Manafort and Mr Gates, who also worked on Mr Trump’s campaign, both pleaded not guilty after that indictment.
The new charges, contained in a 32-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Virginia, allege that Manafort and Gates doctored financial documents, lied to tax preparers and defrauded banks — using money they cycled through offshore accounts to spend lavishly, including on real estate, interior decorating and other luxury goods.
The new criminal case, assigned to US District Judge TS Ellis III, comes a week after a separate Mueller indictment charged 13 Russians and three companies in a conspiracy to undermine the 2016 US presidential election through a hidden social media propaganda effort. The charges against Mr Manafort and Mr Gates don’t relate to any allegations of misconduct related to Trump’s campaign, though Mueller is continuing to investigate potential ties to the Kremlin.
Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said in a statement that the former Trump campaign chairman is innocent and stressed the charges “have nothing to do with Russia and 2016 election interference/collusion”.
Mr Manafort “is confident that he will be acquitted of all charges”, Mr Maloni said.
The charges against Mr Manafort and Mr Gates arise from their foreign lobbying and efforts that prosecutors say they made to conceal their income by disguising it as loans from offshore companies. More recently, after their Ukrainian work dwindled, the indictment also accuses them of fraudulently obtaining more than US$20 million in loans from financial institutions.
The new indictment increases the amount of money Manafort, with the assistance of Gates, is accused of laundering to $30 million. It also charges Mr Manafort and Mr Gates with filing false tax returns from 2010 through 2014 and in most of those years concealing their foreign bank accounts from the IRS.
The indictment contains references to other conspirators who are accused of helping Mr Manafort and Mr Gates in obtaining fraudulent loans. It doesn’t name the conspirators but notes that one of them worked at one of the lenders.
In a document that accompanied the new indictment, prosecutors said they had filed the charges in Virginia, rather than Washington where the other case is pending, because the alleged conduct occurred there and one of the defendants objected to them being brought in Washington. It did not say which defendant objected.
The indictment comes amid ongoing turmoil in the Manafort and Gates defense camps. Mr Manafort has been unable to reach an agreement with prosecutors over the terms of his bail and remains under house arrest, while Mr Gates’ lawyers withdrew from the case after acknowledging “irrreconcilable differences” with their client. A new lawyer, Thomas Green, entered an appearance on Thursday on Mr Gates’ behalf.
Mr Green confirmed on Thursday he represented Mr Gates but did not comment on the new charges.