Gates, star witness against Manafort, concludes his testimony in high-profile financial fraud trial

Prosecutors expect to rest their case Friday against ex-Trump campaign chairman

Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort’s protégé wrapped up his testimony Wednesday after implicating the former Trump campaign chairman and himself in financial crimes while also enduring attacks on his character and credibility.

Rick Gates has been the government’s star witness in Mr. Manafort’s financial fraud trial, testifying how, at the behest of his boss, he helped conceal millions of dollars in foreign income and submitted fake mortgage and tax documents.

Defense lawyers saw an opening to undermine his testimony by painting him as liar and a philanderer, getting him to admit to an extramarital affair and reminding jurors how he had lied to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team while working out a plea deal.

The testimony, stretching across three days, created an extraordinary courtroom showdown between the two former Trump campaign aides who were indicted together by Mr. Mueller but who have opted for different strategies: Mr. Manafort is the lone American charged by Mr. Mueller to opt for trial, whereas Mr. Gates pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate by testifying against his former boss.

Neither man was charged in connection with their Trump campaign work, but the trial has nonetheless been a distraction for a president who insists Mr. Manafort was treated shabbily and who continues to publicly fume about Mr. Mueller’s investigation into potential ties between his associates and the Kremlin.

Prosecutors, who expect to rest their case by Friday afternoon, sandwiched the testimony of Mr. Gates around other witnesses who described Mr. Manafort’s lavish spending and use of offshore accounts to stash Ukrainian political fees.

A clothier said he sold Mr. Manafort more than $900,000 in luxury clothes, a bookkeeper said she helped disguise foreign income as a loan to reduce Mr. Manafort’s tax burden and, on Wednesday, an FBI forensic accounting specialist said Mr. Manafort hid more than 30 offshore accounts in three types of currencies from the IRS.

Overall, the accountant traced more than $65 million flowing into offshore accounts controlled by Mr. Manafort, and she detailed for jurors how more than $15.5 million flowed out to fund his lavish lifestyle between 2010 and 2014.

But it was Mr. Gates’ testimony that has so far generated the most drama, as the witness admitted embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from his boss, confessed to an extramarital affair and turned against a longtime mentor.

Prosecutors relied on Mr. Gates to provide direct, firsthand support of the accusations against Mr. Manafort.

He told jurors how he disguised millions of dollars in foreign income as loans to lower Mr. Manafort’s tax bill. He recounted how he and Mr. Manafort used more than a dozen offshore shell companies and bank accounts in Cyprus to funnel the money, all while concealing the accounts and the income from the IRS.

Prosecutors sought to soften the blow of the crossexamination by asking Mr. Gates to acknowledge his own crimes, including a lie to Mr. Mueller’s team in February. But Mr. Gates nonetheless faced aggressive questioning by Mr. Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, who at one point asked him, “After all the lies you’ve told and the fraud you’ve committed, you expect this jury to believe you?”

Mr. Downing made one last effort Wednesday to erode Mr. Gates’ credibility as he tried to confront him over whether he had engaged in four extramarital affairs, instead of just the one that he had admitted to earlier in the trial.

But after a lengthy conference between lawyers, Mr. Downing asked Mr. Gates only about the time span of his “secret life.”

Mr. Gates replied, “I made many mistakes over many years” before he stepped down from the witness stand.