Prosecutors target Manafort
Ex-Trump aide ‘tried to influence witnesses’
WASHINGTON: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort made several attempts to tamper with witnesses in his ongoing criminal case, prosecutors said as they asked a federal judge to consider jailing him while he awaits trial.
In a court filing on Monday, prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller wrote that Mr Manafort and one of his associates “repeatedly” contacted two witnesses in an effort to influence their testimony. The contacts occurred earlier this year, shortly after a grand jury returned a new indictment against Mr Manafort and while he was confined to his home.
The filing marks the second time that Mr Mueller’s team has accused Mr Manafort of violating a judge’s order in the case. Late last year, federal agents discovered that Mr Manafort was attempting to ghostwrite an opinion piece in Ukraine even though he was under a gag order in the case.
The allegations of attempted witness tampering relate to Mr Manafort’s criminal case in Washington where he faces charges of money-laundering conspiracy, false statements and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Ukrainian interests. He also faces bank fraud and tax evasion charges in Virginia.
The charges — they involve tens of millions of dollars routed through offshore accounts — do not relate to his work on the Trump campaign or involve allegations of Russian election interference.
In the latest court documents, prosecutors say that while he was under house arrest, Mr Manafort and his associate attempted to get two witnesses to lie about the nature of lobbying and public relations work they carried out at Mr Manafort’s direction on behalf of Ukraine.
The court documents do not name Mr Manafort’s associate, but they refer to him as “Person A” and note the pseudonym is consistent with previous filings in the case. In earlier filings, Person A has referred to Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime Manafort associate who prosecutors have said has ties to Russian intelligence.
Mr Kilimnik, who has denied having connections to Russian intelligence agencies, was also involved in the ghostwritten op-ed matter, which prosecutors also connect to Person A in the latest filing.
Reached on Monday evening, Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said his client and his attorneys were reviewing the filing.
The two witnesses were also not named in court filings. But prosecutors say they were principals in a public relations firm that worked with Mr Manafort in organising a group of former European officials, known as the Hapsburg group, who promoted Ukrainian interests in Europe as well as the US.
The group’s work factors into an indictment against Mr Manafort that accuses him of acting as an unregistered foreign agent by lobbying in the US on behalf of Ukrainian interests. Prosecutors say Mr Manafort directed the group’s work and secretly funnelled more than $2 million to it to take positions favourable to Ukraine including by lobbying in the US without disclosing that they were being paid to favourably represent the country.
Mr Manafort has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty. Several members of the Hapsburg group have previously denied the allegations.
According to the court filing, Mr Manafort began messaging and calling one of the witnesses in February shortly the unsealing of the indictment that included the allegations of unregistered lobbying related to the Hapsburg group. Around that same time, Mr Manafort’s co-defendant and longtime business associate, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
The day after Mr Gates’ plea, Mr Manafort messaged and called one of the witnesses and continued reaching out over the next several days, according to a sworn affidavit filed by an FBI agent in the case.
In one call, the agent wrote, Mr Manafort said he wanted to give the witness a “heads-up about Hapsburg”. The individual immediately ended the call, according to the affidavit.