ALEXANDRIA, Virginia \u2014 President Trump\u2019s former campaign chairman evaded taxes on $60 million he made working for a pro-Russia Ukranian pol and spent the\u2026<\/b>
\nALEXANDRIA, Virginia \u2014 President Trump\u2019s former campaign chairman evaded taxes on $60 million he made working for a pro-Russia Ukranian pol and spent the money on luxuries that included a $21,000 watch and a \u201ccustom, $15,000 jacket made from an ostrich,\u201d a prosecutor told jurors on Tuesday.
During opening statements at Paul Manafort\u2019s tax and bank fraud trial, Assistant US Attorney Uzo Asonye said Manafort\u2019s illegally funded, \u201cextravagant lifestyle\u201d included \u201cmore than a half-million dollars in fancy clothes\u201d and three of his seven homes.
Those properties \u2014 which he bought for $6 million in cash \u2014 included an apartment at 29 Howard St. in Manhattan and townhouse at 377 Union St. in Brooklyn, as well as a house in Arlington, Virginia, Asonye said.\u201dThere\u2019s one thing this man did not do with these millions of dollars: pay the taxes he owed,\u201d the prosecutor said.
Manafort allegedly hid the money from the feds in 30 bank accounts in three foreign countries, with Asnoye telling jurors they\u2019d \u201cread Manafort, in his own words\u201d admitting that one overseas account \u201cis my account.\u201d
Asonye said former Ukranian President Victor Yanukovych was Manafort\u2019s \u201cgolden goose\u201d until Yanukovych was ousted by the country\u2019s parliament in February 2014 amid massive protests in the capital of Kiev, where scores of demonstrators were killed by police snipers.
When Manafort\u2019s consulting fees dried up, Asonye said, he \u201cliterally created cash out of thin air and debt\u201d by scamming millions of dollars in loans from American banks.
\u201cShell companies don\u2019t create themselves. Neither do fake loans. And the evidence will show that Paul Manafort orchestrated these crimes,\u201d he said.
Defense lawyer Thomas Zehnle portrayed Manafort as a \u201ctalented political consultant\u201d and a \u201cgood man\u201d who was set up by his former right-hand man, Rick Gates, who\u2019s expected to serve as the prosecution\u2019s star witness.
Zehnle said Gates embezzled money from Manafort\u2019s company by paying himself unearned bonuses and reimbursing himself for phony expenses before getting caught \u201cwith his hands in the cookie jar.\u201d
Gates lied to prosecutors to cut a cooperation deal, avoiding the possibility of a lengthy prison term and massive fines, Zehnle said.
The defense lawyer didn\u2019t dispute that Manafort \u201cspent a lot of money and lived a lifestyle that most people can only dream about.\u201d
But he said Manafort reported $30 million in personal income between 2005 and 2015, from $90 million in gross revenues to his companies.
Zehnle also described Manafort as the \u201cdriving force\u201d behind \u201cmultiple US presidents.\u201d
\u201cPaul Manafort shouldn\u2019t be here,\u201d he said.
Manafort\u2019s trial is the first of two he faces as a result of a probe by Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who\u2019s investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and suspected collusion with Trump\u2019s campaign.
The prosecution\u2019s first witness was political consultant Tad Devine, who was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 chief strategist during his Democratic primary campaign in the 2016 presidential race.
Devine, who worked for Manafort in Ukraine, praised Manafort\u2019s \u201ctremendous discipline\u201d and credited him with getting Yanukovych elected.<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 42<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 0<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 8<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 1<\/div>\n

TW likes: 4<\/div>\n

TW sentiment: 0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n