Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, was indicted on Monday with his longtime associate, Rick Gates, on charges of money laundering and making false statements to officials related to lobbying work in Ukraine.
The two men, who pleaded not guilty, are charged with setting up offshore bank accounts and making wire transfers from them to directly pay for goods, services and real estate in the United States. They are said to have done this without disclosing their foreign bank accounts or paying taxes on the income. The indictment lists more than 30 domestic and foreign entities that were involved in the plan.
Over a period of six years, the indictment indicates, Mr. Manafort made transfers totaling $6.4 million for real estate and more than $12 million for personal goods and services like clothing, vehicles and home improvement.
| Real Estate | Payments for | ||
| Brooklyn | Brownstone in Carroll Gardens | $3.0 million | |
| Arlington, Va. | House | $1.9 million | |
| Manhattan | Condominium in SoHo | $1.5 million | |
| Home Improvement | |||
|
Home improvement company | $5.4 million | |
| Landscaper | $655,500 | ||
| Landscaper | $164,740 | ||
| Audio, video and control system home integration and installation company | $112,825 | ||
| Art and Antiques | |||
| Alexandria, Va. | Antique rug store | $934,350 | |
| New York | Antique dealer | $623,910 | |
| Florida | Art gallery | $31,900 | |
| Clothing | |||
| New York | Men’s clothing store | $849,215 | |
| Beverly Hills, Calif. | Clothing store | $520,440 | |
| Cars | Costs related to three Range Rovers | $163,705 | |
| Purchase of Mercedes Benz | $62,750 | ||
|
$47,000 | ||
| Other | |||
| Investment company | $500,000 | ||
| Total | $18.5 million |
Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates are also accused of using the accounts to pay more than $2 million to two Washington lobbying firms on behalf of their Ukrainian clients — former President Viktor F. Yanukovych of Ukraine and his pro-Russia party — who they were not registered to represent. Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates developed a cover story to distance themselves from their lobbying activity and mislead agents of the Justice Department who were investigating them, the indictment says.
In 2012, Mr. Manafort made wire transfers from the offshore accounts to purchase three properties in New York and Virginia, the charges say. The three homes and a fourth in the Hamptons are listed in the indictment as subject to forfeiture if he is charged with money laundering:
When Mr. Manafort later took out mortgages on two of these properties to obtain cash in the United States, he defrauded the institutions that loaned the money so he could borrow more at better rates, according to the indictment.
The indictment says that he purchased the Manhattan condo for $2.85 million and later used it as a rental property. It goes on to say that when he applied for a mortgage for the condo, he falsely claimed that it was a secondary home for his daughter and son-in-law so that he could get a sum larger than the loan available for a rental property. He received a $3.2 million loan.
Mr. Manafort purchased the Brooklyn brownstone for about $3 million, and he later was given a “construction loan” of $5 million, based on his promise that some of the money would go to increasing the home’s value. Instead, he told his tax preparer that it would allow him to pay back another mortgage in full, according to the indictment. It also says he used the money to make a down payment on another property in California.
Loading...