It’s not a crime to be rich, judge keeps reminding prosecutors in trial of Trump’s former campaign boss
The trial of US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort shifted focus to the accountants who prepared years of his allegedly false tax returns as the court battle headed into its third day on Thursday.
The second day of Mr Manafort’s trial saw a series of witnesses describe how he had paid for luxury cars, expensive suits and home renovations with wire transfers.
He is the first person to be tried on evidence collected during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 US presidential election.
He denies all the charges of financial fraud and tax evasion, which relate to work done before he joined the campaign.
Prosecutors spent the day revealing more details of the political consultant’s high-rolling lifestyle, attracting frequent rebukes from the judge.
It is not a crime to be wealthy, District Judge T S Ellis reminded government lawyers.
He chastised them for using the pejorative term “oligarchs” to describe wealthy Ukrainian figures who paid Mr Manafort, 69, millions of dollars in political consultancy fees.
Mr Ellis also barred them from showing photographs of Mr Manafort’s suits to the jury.
“I understand this effort to show that he lived lavishly, but at some point it’s not relevant,” he said.
That did not stop the prosecution from calling witnesses who described Mr Manafort’s spending, in an effort to show that he was operating foreign accounts.
Daniel Opsut gave evidence that the Manafort family bought and leased expensive cars from his dealership, using funds from accounts in Cyprus.
They included a new 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL550 worth about $123,000 (Dh451,800).
Stephen Jacobson described contracts for construction projects in New York City and in the millionaires’ retreat of the Hamptons. Millions of dollars in payments, he said, were made mainly by international wire transfer.
“It’s literally hundreds and hundreds of pages of billing over the course of the years I’ve worked for Mr Manafort,” he said.
And Maximillian Katzman said the accused spent more than $900,000 on clothes at his boutique in New York. Mr Manafort was the only client who paid his bills by international wire transfer, he said.
As Greg Andres, for the prosecution, reviewed how much Mr Manafort spent on clothing, including $440,160 in 2013 alone, a weary judge intervened again.
“The government doesn’t want to prosecute someone because they wear nice clothing, do they?” Mr Ellis said.
The prosecution laid out its strategy in an opening statement a day earlier.
Government lawyers claim Mr Manafort operated a complex web of overseas companies and bank accounts to hide his income derived from Ukrainian politicians and to avoid paying tax in the US.
His lawyers argue that Mr Manafort was oblivious to the arrangements. Instead, his former assistant Rick Gates was to blame, they said.
Mr Gates, who pleaded guilty to making false statements after being indicted by Mr Mueller, was expected to be a star government witness. But prosecutors said on Wednesday they had not yet decided whether or not he would be called.
“He may testify in this case, he may not,” said Uzo Asonye, for the government.