Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 9 augusT 2018
Gates, star witness against Manafort, concludes testimony

By CHAD DAY, STEPHEN taining millions of dollars.
BRAUN and ERIC TUCKER None of those accounts
Associated Press were reported to the IRS as
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — required by U.S. law.
Paul Manafort's protégé An FBI forensic accountant,
wrapped up his testimony Morgan Magionos, told ju-
Wednesday after implicat- rors bank records from Cy-
ing the former Trump cam- prus, St. Vincent and the
paign chairman and him- Grenadines and the United
self in financial crimes while Kingdom revealed the ac-
also enduring stinging at- counts were connected to
tacks on his character and Manafort and his associ-
credibility. ates.
Rick Gates has been the She said Manafort's pass-
government's star witness in port was used to open
Manafort's financial fraud many of them in U.S. dollars,
trial, testifying how, at the euros and British pounds.
behest of his longtime boss, Using charts, emails and
he helped conceal millions financial and tax records,
of dollars in foreign income Magionos told jurors how
and submitted fake mort- she traced millions of dol-
gage and tax documents. lars of payments for mort-
Defense lawyers saw an gages, home improve-
opening to undermine his ments, rugs and clothes
testimony by painting him back to his hidden foreign
as liar and a philanderer, This courtroom sketch depicts Rick Gates on the witness stand as he is cross examined by defense bank accounts. In one
lawyer Kevin Downing during the trial of former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort
getting him to admit to an on bank fraud and tax evasion at federal court in Alexandria, Va., Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018. U.S. case, she alleged that for-
extramarital affair and re- District court Judge T.S. Ellis III presides. eign accounts were used
minding jurors how he had Associated Press by Manafort to pay for
lied to special counsel Rob- more than $3.5 million in
ert Mueller's team while Manafort more than shore shell companies and that Manafort had encour- home improvements.
working out a plea deal for $900,000 in luxury clothes, bank accounts in Cyprus to aged Gates to deceive Konstantin Kilimnik, a man
himself. a bookkeeper says she funnel the money, all while authorities. He got Gates prosecutors say has ties to
The testimony, stretching helped disguise foreign in- concealing the accounts to acknowledge that Russian intelligence, was
across three days, created come as a loan to reduce and the income from the Manafort told him to be also among the beneficial
an extraordinary court- Manafort's tax burden and, IRS. truthful about offshore shell owners of some of the com-
room showdown between on Wednesday, an FBI fo- Prosecutors sought to soft- companies and bank ac- panies. Kilimnik is charged
the two former Trump cam- rensic accounting special- en the blow of the cross- counts during a 2014 inter- along with Manafort with
paign aides who were in- ist said Manafort hid more examination by asking view with the FBI. witness tampering in a sep-
dicted together by Muel- than 30 offshore accounts Gates to acknowledge his The interview was part of arate case. Gates was also
ler but who have since in three types of currencies own crimes, including a lie an FBI investigation that listed as an owner of sev-
opted for radically different from the IRS. to Mueller's team in Febru- sought to recover assets eral of the accounts.
strategies: Manafort is the Overall, the accountant ary. But Gates nonetheless looted from the Ukrainian Also Wednesday, an IRS
lone American charged traced more than $65 mil- faced aggressive question- government under the rule agent, Michael Welch, tes-
by Mueller to opt for trial, lion flowing into offshore ing by Manafort's lawyer, of former President Viktor tified that Manafort didn't
whereas Gates pleaded accounts controlled by Kevin Downing, who at one Yanukovych. report at least $16 million
guilty and agreed to coop- Manafort, and she detailed point asked him, "After all Gates said under question- on his tax returns between
erate by testifying against for jurors how more than the lies you've told and the ing Wednesday that he 2010 and 2014. He also
his former boss. $15.5 million flowed out to fraud you've committed, told FBI agents and Justice said Manafort should have
Neither man was charged fund his lavish lifestyle be- you expect this jury to be- Department lawyers about reported multiple foreign
in connection with their tween 2010 and 2014. lieve you?" some of the offshore com- bank accounts to the IRS in
Trump campaign work, But it was Gates' testimony Downing made one last ef- panies that contained mil- those years.
but the trial has nonethe- that has so far generated fort Wednesday to erode lions of dollars in proceeds U.S. District Judge T.S. El-
less been a distraction the most drama, as the wit- Gates' credibility as he from their Ukrainian politi- lis III repeatedly has inter-
for a president who in- ness admitted embezzling tried to confront him over cal work. rupted prosecutors to en-
sists Manafort was treated hundreds of thousands of whether he had engaged But prosecutor Greg Andres courage them to speed
shabbily and who contin- dollars from his boss, con- in four extramarital affairs, followed up by suggesting things along. He poked fun
ues to publicly fume about fessed to an extramarital instead of just the one that that Gates and Manafort at himself Wednesday as
Mueller's investigation into affair and turned in spec- he had admitted to earlier were not fully truthful. he haggled with attorneys
potential ties between his tacular fashion against a in the trial. "Did you tell the FBI that over the number and type
associates and the Kremlin. longtime mentor. But after a lengthy confer- there was hidden income of charts prosecutors could
Prosecutors sandwiched Prosecutors relied on Gates ence between lawyers, in those accounts?" Andres present during the testimo-
the testimony of Gates to provide direct, first-hand Downing asked Gates only asked. ny of the accountant.
around other witnesses support of the accusations about the time span of his "No, I did not," Gates re- "Judges should be patient.
who, in sometimes dry against Manafort. "secret life." sponded. They made a mistake when
and detailed testimony, He told jurors how he dis- Gates replied, "I made Once Gates finished testi- they confirmed me. I'm not
described Manafort's lav- guised millions of dollars in many mistakes over many fying, prosecutors resumed very patient, so don't try my
ish spending and use of foreign income as loans in years" before he stepped trying to make their case patience," Ellis said.
offshore accounts to stash order to lower Manafort's down from the witness through documentary Prosecutors say they have
Ukrainian political consult- tax bill. He recounted how stand. evidence to demonstrate eight witnesses left and ex-
ing fees. he and Manafort used Downing also sought to Manafort's control of off- pect to rest their case by
A clothier said he sold more than a dozen off- counter earlier testimony shore bank accounts con- Friday afternoon.q