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Court document shows Manafort wealth, ties to Russian oligarchs

By Doina Chiacu

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort departs U.S. District Court after a hearing in the first charges stemming from a special counsel investigation of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election in Washington, U.S., October 30, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, had three U.S. passports, millions in assets and ties to Russian oligarchs, according to federal court documents after his indictment on tax fraud and money laundering charges.

 

Manafort and associate Rick Gates pose a significant flight risk because of the serious nature of the charges, the strong evidence of guilt, their wealth and "their history of deceptive and misleading conduct," federal prosecutors said in a filing Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

 

Manafort, 68, and Gates, who also worked on Trump's campaign, pleaded not guilty on Monday in a 12-count indictment, ranging from money laundering to acting as unregistered agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russian government.

 

The charges came as part of federal special counsel Robert Mueller's 5-month-old investigation into alleged Russian efforts to tilt the 2016 presidential election in Trump's favor and potential collusion by campaign aides.

 

The allegations are not related to campaign activities but reveal close ties to Russia, and include activities from 2006 to 2017, which overlaps with the mens' work on Trump's campaign.

 

The two men are under house arrest and have relinquished their U.S. passports, with a $10 million bond set for Manafort and a $5 million bond for Gates.

 

"Both defendants have substantial ties abroad, including in Ukraine, where both have spent time and have served as agents of its government," according to the government's memorandum in support of the conditions of release.

 

"And both Manafort and Gates have connections to Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs, who have provided millions of dollars to Manafort and Gates."

 

The next hearing in the case, set for 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Thursday, will concern the bail conditions that were set at Monday's arraignment.

 

Manafort was a longtime U.S. Republican operative before turning his attention to political consulting overseas.

 

He submitted 10 passport application in the last decade and currently holds three U.S. passports, the memo said.

 

It is rare but legal to hold three valid passports.

 

People can apply for more than one passport under limited circumstances, including when a foreign country will deny entry to someone holding a passport showing travel to certain other countries or when a visa request is being processed but a person needs a valid passport for immediate travel, a State Department official said on Wednesday.

 

The official could not comment on Manafort's passport records but said requests for more than one valid passport are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

 

Asked about the information in the memo, Manafort lawyer Jason Maloni told Reuters on Wednesday his client "looks forward to having these allegations tried before a judge and jury."

 

The memo said Manafort's financial assets were substantial but difficult to quantify because he listed figures on loan applications and other financial documents since 2012 that ranged from $19 million to $136 million.

 

Manafort and Gates owned or controlled entities and accounts worldwide including in Cyprus, Grenadines, Seychelles and England, it said.

 

Manafort traveled to Mexico, China and Ecuador in 2017, prosecutors said.

 

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Karen Freifeld, Sarah Lynch; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-02

[retarius]

Now what on earth does 'ties to Russian oligarchs' mean? It is like the term Russian-linked. So vague as to be meaningless. Why do the reports never specify what this means? Does it mean Manafort has Russian oligarchs as personal friends? Or as business associates? Or does it mean he was in the same country as they were at some time? The vagueness of it all is so frustrating, and I suspect that the reason there are no details is that the details usually don;t add up to a row of beans. A bit like the facebook ads where the "Russian linked" ads were 0.004% of total posts during the period....but we prefer to refer to it as having up to 130 million people might have been exposed to "one" of the posts. The ad spend at $100,000 is insignificant compared to the 1 billion spent by Trump and $2 billion spent by his rival. Seriously, I have working in marketing and I know that a $100,000 campaign in a $3 billion total campaign is too small to be even noticed. To think that Putin has personally cracked broadcast advertising such that he can spend a tiny amount and win an election means that he could make more money opening an advertising agency.

[Slip]

The Russian advertising campaign relied on social-networking to spread the message after the initial seeding.  The exposure of the message through that medium in turn dwarves the impact of the advertising campaigns of Trump or Clinton.

[Bruce404]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

Now what on earth does 'ties to Russian oligarchs' mean? It is like the term Russian-linked. So vague as to be meaningless. Why do the reports never specify what this means? Does it mean Manafort has Russian oligarchs as personal friends? Or as business associates? Or does it mean he was in the same country as they were at some time? The vagueness of it all is so frustrating, and I suspect that the reason there are no details is that the details usually don;t add up to a row of beans. A bit like the facebook ads where the "Russian linked" ads were 0.004% of total posts during the period....but we prefer to refer to it as having up to 130 million people might have been exposed to "one" of the posts. The ad spend at $100,000 is insignificant compared to the 1 billion spent by Trump and $2 billion spent by his rival. Seriously, I have working in marketing and I know that a $100,000 campaign in a $3 billion total campaign is too small to be even noticed. To think that Putin has personally cracked broadcast advertising such that he can spend a tiny amount and win an election means that he could make more money opening an advertising agency.

I suggest that "retarius" read the indictment (https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/world/manafort-and-gates-indictment/2252/?tid=a_inl) for a brief summary of Manafort's extensive Russian connections.  I am confident that the FBI has far more info and data than in this first public indictment. 

  

With the cooperation of the involved banks in Cyprus and elsewhere that were transmitting his un-declared and un-taxed income into the U.S. to pay for Manafort's domestic purchases, the source of fund transfers into his dozens of shell companies can be tracked back, step-by-step, to identify where his "black" money originated.  Then they will possibly see how those same Russian or oligarch sources also transferred funds into Trump's accounts and shell companies, both domestic and overseas.  Cyprus banks are a favorite place for Russian oligarchs and Putin cronies to stash their wealth.

 

Most banks worldwide fear being blacklisted by the U.S. financial system for appearing to condone or collude with money laundering.  So they cooperate with the FBI.  That's why Trump is panicking over careful investigation of his finances over the last decade, and refusing to release his tax returns (to which the FBI probably already has access).  It's obvious Trump is trying to hide his shady finances, and has much to lose sleep over.   

 

Many U.S.  Federal laws specifying financial crimes have parallel state laws.  So the president's pardon power for Federal crimes will not protect him and his relatives from state laws and prisons for evading taxes and money laundering.

 

Edited November 2, 2017 by Bruce404