US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and a former business associate, Rick Gates, were indicted yesterday on charges of conspiracy against the US, money laundering and several other financial charges.
The charges were the first stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. The indictment filed in federal court in Washington accused both men of funneling tens of millions of dollars in payments through foreign companies and bank accounts.
Manafort and Gates surrendered to federal authorities, and were expected in court later in the day to face the charges brought by Mueller’s team.
Photo: AFP
The indictment lays out 12 counts including conspiracy against the US, conspiracy to launder money, acting as an unregistered foreign agent, and several charges related to failing to report foreign bank and financial accounts.
The indictment alleges that they moved money through hidden bank accounts in Cyprus, St Vincent and the Grenadines and the Seychelles. In total, more than US$75 million flowed through the offshore accounts.
Manafort is accused of laundering more than US$18 million, according to the indictment.
Manafort, 68, was fired as Trump’s campaign chairman in August last year after word surfaced that he had orchestrated a covert lobbying operation on behalf of pro-Russian interests in Ukraine.
The Associated Press reported that Manafort also represented a Russian billionaire a decade ago with the goal of advancing the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The White House declined to comment, while a spokesman for Manafort did not immediately return calls or text messages requesting comment.
Mueller was appointed as special counsel in May to lead the US Department of Justice’s investigation into whether the Kremlin worked with associates of the Trump campaign to tip last year’s presidential election.
The appointment came one week after the firing of then-FBI director James Comey, and also followed the recusal months earlier of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions from the probe.
Investigators have focused on associates including Manafort, whose home was raided in July by agents searching for tax and international banking records, and Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign in February after White House officials said he had misled them about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the US.
Manafort joined Trump’s campaign in March last year and oversaw the convention delegate strategy. Trump pushed him out in August amid a steady stream of negative headlines about Manafort’s foreign consulting work.
In Gates, Mueller brings in not just Manafort’s chief deputy, but a key player from Trump’s campaign who survived past Manafort’s ouster last summer.
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