Paul Manafort’s wife Kathleen Manafort was mentioned at his sentencing hearing.
Getty
Paul Manafort’s wife Kathleen Manafort.
Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, asked a judge for leniency on March 13,2019 because of his wife, Kathleen Manafort.
Manafort, 69, showed up for his second sentencing in a wheelchair.
“She needs me and I need her,” he told the judge of his wife. “I ask you to think of this and our need for each other as you deliberate. This case has taken everything from me already — my properties, my cash, my life insurance, my trust accounts for my children and my grandchildren, and more.”
The judge eventually added on to Manafort’s first sentence, bringing the tally of years he’s received to 7.5. As she has been throughout it all, Kathleen Manafort was at her husband’s side. She has already seen her 40-year marriage become the object of tabloid scrutiny as controversies over Paul Manafort grew.
Here’s what you need to know about his wife, Kathleen Manafort:
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his wife Kathleen arrive at the Prettyman Federal Courthouse for a bail hearing November 6,2017 in Washington, DC.
The Manaforts have presented a united front in court throughout it all.
Kathleen Manafort often accompanies her husband to court hearings. In July 2018, with his trial looming, she was seated in the front row of the courtroom, according to Politico, which reported, “As he exited the chamber, the defendant briefly smiled at his wife, Kathleen Manafort, who was seated in the courtroom’s front row and shook hands with his lawyers.”
Kathleen Bond Manafort and Paul Manafort have been married since 1978. Kathleen is a lawyer in Virginia who passed the bar exam in 1988.
The couple has two daughters, Andrea and Jessica. Kathleen Manafort appears to be a very private person, and she doesn’t have much in the way of a public profile, although public scrutiny was thrust on her when the National Enquirer alleged that Manafort may have had an affair.
Getty Paul Manafort.
The marriage has faced other challenges. President Trump’s friendship with the tabloid’s CEO David Pecker is well-known, so the accusations, which emerged around the time that news leaked about the FBI search, raised some eyebrows.
The Enquirer story alleged that Manafort was “desperate to save his 39-year marriage to Kathleen, 64.” Dylan Howard, chief content officer and vice president of the parent company of the National Enquirer “scoffed at the speculation about Pecker and Trump’s possible role” in the story, Daily Beast reported. However, despite those tabloid claims, Kathleen has been at her husband’s side at many court hearings since.
Kathleen Manafort
The Manaforts were once living large. Now, against the crushing blow of federal indictment, Paul Manafort transferred a Florida Palm Beach Gardens mansion to his wife for $10, according to Politico.
Although Manafort has agreed to surrender a string of luxury homes, he wanted to make sure his family was taken care of, the site reported. The Manaforts purchased the home for $1.5 million, Politico reported.
Manafort and his wife once owned millions of dollars in real estate, according to published reports. His lavish lifestyle was front and center during the prosecution’s case against him at trial.
Paul and Kathleen Manafort “owned a Hamptons getaway worth many millions, and recently sold their longtime Mount Vernon, Virginia, home where they had raised their two daughters,” reported UK Daily Mail. The British news site reported that’s just the start of their holdings.
The New York Times also reported that Manafort and his wife had also secured $20 million in mortgages with properties. WYNC alleged that some of Paul Manafort’s New York real estate transactions raise questions, reporting, “Manafort’s New York City transactions follow a pattern: Using shell companies, he purchased the homes in all-cash deals, then transferred the properties into his own name for no money and then took out hefty mortgages against them, according to property records.”
Kathleen Manafort
The Mueller probe widened to scrutinize Manafort’s finances, with tax and banking records allegedly being taken out of his home during the search. Indeed, when the indictment came down, it alleged, in part, that Paul Manafort funneled millions of dollars through offshore accounts to finance a lavish lifestyle.
“Investigators have identified at least four high-end properties belonging to Mr. Manafort subject to forfeiture if he’s found guilty, including a brownstone in Brooklyn, a SoHo condo, a lavish estate in the Hamptons and a 1920s single-family home in Arlington, Virginia,” noted Mansion Global, adding that “Manafort—who was placed under house arrest—stashed millions in accounts in Cyprus, Saint Vincent and the Seychelles to buy the properties.”
The indictment says, “Manafort used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States, without paying taxes on that income.” According to Mansion Global, “purchases include Range Rovers and nearly $1 million in men’s clothing.
