Aide says Manafort accounts unknown
Prosecutors: Millions in untaxed money flowed
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Paul Manafort’s longtime bookkeeper told a federal court jury she was unaware of a network of foreign bank accounts the former Trump campaign chairman allegedly used to funnel tens of millions of dollars to the USA to support his far-flung holdings and extravagant lifestyle.
Heather Washkuhn, who managed Manafort’s personal and business accounts for at least seven years, said she had no knowledge of the millions in international wire transfers her client is accused of moving from those accounts to pay for designer clothes and luxury cars, homes and remodeling projects.
Reading from a long list of international accounts based in Cyprus, the Grenadines and Ukraine, prosecutor Greg Andres asked whether Washkuhn knew of any of them.
After the name of each was recited, Washkuhn provided the same answer: “No.”
The government says Manafort stashed tens of millions of dollars in 30 foreign accounts and routed the untaxed money to the USA.
Washkuhn testified that on some occasions, her California firm was not provided the underlying application documents for millions in loans Manafort ob- tained to keep his lucrative consulting business in Ukraine alive. Manafort is accused of falsifying loan applications to obtain more than $20 million.
“Did you ask for it?” Andres asked of the supporting loan documents. “Yes,” Washkuhn replied.
“Did you get them?”
“Not always,” she said. Prosecutors have argued that Manafort increasingly sought to secure bank loans after his Ukraine consulting business began to dry up in 2015.
By 2016, Manafort appeared to be in serious financial jeopardy. Washkuhn described a period in which her former client risked cancellation of a medical insurance policy because of unpaid bills. Directed to draw on an existing line of credit, Washkuhn informed Manafort’s then-business partner Rick Gates that those funds had been exhausted.
In three hours on the witness stand, Washkuhn’s testimony stood out for how much the chief bookkeeper was apparently kept in the dark about her own client’s finances. Presented with records listing hundreds of thousands of dollars in income from foreign consulting firms, Washkuhn said she was neither familiar with the entities nor did she know they were controlled by Manafort.
Earlier Thursday, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said he would continue to block prosecutors from showing the jury photographs illustrating Manafort’s spending habits, ruling that such images unfairly “besmirch the defendant.” Ellis said the imagery of designer suits, lavish homes and luxury cars “engenders resentment against rich people.”
The case against Manafort – 18 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud and conspiracy – is the first to be tried by special counsel Robert Mueller and focuses on Manafort’s business dealings. It doesn’t directly have to do with his work on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Paul Manafort’s chief bookkeeper apparently was kept in the dark about her own client’s finances.