Filing: Manafort 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 Monday as they asked a federal judge to consider jailing him while he awaits trial.
In a court filing , prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller wrote that 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 Manafort and while he was confined to his home.
The filing marks the second time that Mueller’s team has accused Manafort of violating a judge’s order in the case. Late last year, federal agents discovered that Manafort was attempting to ghostwrite an opinion piece in Ukraine, even though he was under a gag order.
The allegations of attempted witness tampering relate to 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 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, Manafort and his associate attempted to get two witnesses to lie about the nature of lobbying and public relations work they carried out at Manafort’s direction on behalf of Ukraine.
The court documents do not name 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.
Kilimnik was also involved in the ghostwritten op-ed matter, which prosecutors also connect to Person A in the latest filing.
Reached Monday evening, Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said his client and his attorneys were reviewing the filing.