Prosecution: ‘Manafort and his lies’ at heart of case
Defense attorneys cast guilt on others in closing arguments
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort lied to keep himself flush with cash and later to maintain his luxurious lifestyle when his income dropped off, prosecutors told jurors Wednesday in closing arguments at the former Trump campaign chairman’s financial fraud trial. Jurors will begin deliberations Thursday.
In his defense, Manafort’s attorneys told jurors to question the entirety of the prosecution’s case as they sought to tarnish the credibility of Manafort’s longtime protege — and government witness — Rick Gates.
The conflicting strategies played out over several hours of argument that capped nearly three weeks of testimony in the first courtroom test for special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The verdict, now in the hands of 12 jurors, will provide a measure of the special counsel’s ability to make charges stick.
In the closing arguments, prosecutor Greg Andres said the government’s case boils down to “Mr. Manafort and his lies.”
“When you follow the trail of Mr. Manafort’s money, it is littered with lies,” Andres said as he made his final argument that the jury should find Manafort guilty of 18 felony counts.
Attorneys for Manafort, who is accused of tax evasion and bank fraud, spoke next, arguing against his guilt by saying he left the particulars of his finances to other people, including Gates, his former deputy.
Neither Manafort nor Gates has been charged in Paul Manafort’s attorneys Kevin Downing, from left, Jay Nanavati and Richard Westling arrive at court Wednesday. connection with their Trump campaign work. But Mueller’s legal team says it discovered Manafort hiding millions of dollars in income as a result of the ongoing investigation.
Defense attorney Richard Westling told jurors that the fact that Manafort employed a team of accountants, bookkeepers and tax preparers shows he wasn’t trying to hide anything. The lawyer appeared to be trying to blunt the effect of testimony from some of the people who handled Manafort’s finances, including his bookkeeper, who said he concealed offshore bank accounts and lied to them.
Westling said the evidence against Manafort has been cherry-picked by Mueller’s team and doesn’t show jurors the full picture.
“None of the banks involved reported Manafort’s activities as suspicious,” he said.
Westling questioned whether prosecutors had shown criminal intent by the former Trump campaign chairman, and pointed to documents and emails that the defense lawyer said may well show numerical errors or sloppy bookkeeping but no overt fraud.
Manafort chose not to testify or call any witnesses in his defense.
Referring to charts compiled by an IRS accounting specialist, Andres told jurors that Manafort declared only some of his foreign income on his federal income tax returns and repeatedly failed to disclose millions of dollars that streamed into the U.S. to pay for luxury items, services and loans. In 2012, Manafort’s most successful year during his Ukrainian work, he reported $5.3 million. But he told the government nothing about $9.2 million more that went to pay for loans and other items, prosecutors said.
The prosecutor said Manafort should have been well aware each time he signed tax and financial documents indicating that he had no foreign accounts to declare. “Mr. Manafort was willful,” Andres said.
In a brief rebuttal after defense arguments, Andres said the defense “wants to make this case about Rick Gates,” but hasn’t explained “the dozens of documents” Manafort’s name is on.
Leaving the courthouse, defense lawyer Kevin Downing said he felt “very good” about Manafort’s chances of being acquitted.
“Mr. Manafort was very happy with how things went today,” Downing said.