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U.S. NEWS Friday 3 august 2018

Bookkeeper: Paul Manafort

approved every penny' of bills

By CHAD DAY and ERIC warning that he was be- prosecutors want to submit
TUCKER hind on his payments, in- as evidence of Manafort's
Associated Press cluding to her. lavish spending.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Manafort faces charges of U.S. District Judge T.S. El-
Paul Manafort inflated his bank fraud and tax evasion lis III said the money is rel-
business income by mil- that could put him in prison evant, but he doesn't see
lions of dollars and kept for the rest of his life. It's the the need for prosecutors
his bookkeeper in the dark first courtroom test of Muel- to "gild the lily," especially Paul Manafort's former bookkeeper Heather Washkuhn, left,
walks to the Alexandria Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, Va.,
about the foreign bank ac- ler's team, which is tasked considering Manafort's Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, to testify at the trial of President Don-
counts he was using to buy with looking into Russia's lawyers have not disputed ald Trump's former campaign chairman's tax evasion and bank
luxury items and pay per- efforts to interfere with the that their client spent his fraud trial.
sonal expenses, according U.S. election and wheth- money on luxury items.q Associated Press
to testimony during his trial er the Trump presidential
Thursday. campaign colluded with
But he otherwise approved Moscow to sway voters.
"every penny" of the per- While the question of collu-
sonal bills bookkeeper sion remains unanswered,
Heather Washkuhn paid for Manafort's financial fraud
him, she said. trial has exposed the lucra-
That testimony is important tive and secretive world
to special counsel Robert of foreign lobbying that
Mueller's team as it looks to made Manafort rich.
rebut defense arguments Other witnesses testifying
that Manafort can't be re- this week said Manafort
sponsible for financial fraud paid them millions from
because he left the details the offshore accounts tied
of his spending to others. to foreign shell companies
That includes his longtime for landscaping, expensive
associate Rick Gates, who clothing and even a kara-
pleaded guilty earlier this oke machine.
year and is expected to When prosecutor Greg
testify soon as the govern- Andres read off some of
ment's star witness. the offshore companies to
"I would say he was very Manafort's bookkeeper,
knowledgeable. He was she said Manafort never
very detail-oriented. He told her about them. She
approved every penny of said she would have docu-
everything we paid," Wash- mented them for tax pur-
kuhn told jurors. poses if he had.
She also described doc- On cross-examination,
uments submitted by Manafort attorney Thomas
Manafort to obtain loans. Zehnle tried to get Wash-
Prosecutors say the docu- kuhn to say Gates was
ments inflated the net in- heavily involved in approv-
come of his business by ing expenses. The Manafort
roughly $4 million, and they legal team has been work-
say he tried to pass them ing to convince the jury
off as coming from her ac- that Gates is to blame rath-
counting firm. er than their client.
The fraudulent loan But Washkuhn said that
documents came after while Gates dealt with
Manafort's political consult- some business matters for
ing work in the Ukraine had Manafort's consulting firm,
dried up and as he had be- "mainly Mr. Manafort was
gun to financially struggle, the approval source."
prosecutors say. Washkuhn The federal judge oversee-
told jurors about a series of ing the trial has questioned
emails she sent him in 2016 the hundreds of exhibits