Thread: What are the charges against Paul Manafort?

Yahoo News explains: What are the charges against Paul Manafort?

Kate Murphy Producer
,Yahoo News Video•July 31, 2018

Tuesday, July 31, marks Day 1 of the trial of Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman. It’s the first trial related to charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Manafort faces 18 criminal counts, half of which carry a maximum sentence of 30 years.
Let’s break them down:

Five counts: False tax returns

Manafort is charged with helping to produce and approve false tax returns from 2010 through 2014 — one count for each year.

Prosecutors say he falsely indicated he didn’t have bank accounts in foreign countries and underreported his earnings to limit his taxable income.

Four counts: Failed to report foreign bank accounts

U.S. citizens are typically required to submit a Foreign Bank Account Report if the accumulated value of their foreign accounts exceeds $10,000 during a 12-month period.

Prosecutors say Manafort didn’t submit the reports from 2011 through 2014, even though he funneled millions through overseas accounts. He’s charged with one count for each year.

Three counts: Citizens Bank loans

Manafort is charged with bank fraud and bank fraud conspiracy for a Manhattan condo loan of $3.4 million, allegedly falsely saying it wasn’t a rental property to maximize the amount he borrowed. He’s also charged with bank fraud conspiracy for attempting to get a separate $5.5 million loan for a brownstone in Brooklyn, prosecutors say.

Two counts: Banc of California loan

Manafort is charged with bank fraud and bank fraud conspiracy for allegedly submitting false and misleading information to try to secure a $1 million business loan from Banc of California.

Four counts: Federal Savings Bank loans

Prosecutors charged Manafort and his then-associate Rick Gates with two counts of bank fraud and two counts of bank fraud conspiracy for allegedly providing misleading information to secure two loans worth $16 million.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty to all 18 counts. He faces a second trial in September on conspiracy charges.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/yahoo-new...150951291.html

LIVE UPDATES
The Manafort trial: Day 4

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-ne...ial/index.html


15 min ago


First witness with immunity testifies against Manafort
From CNN's Katelyn Polantz


Accountant Cindy LaPorta, the first witness granted immunity from prosecution so she would be forced to testify in the Paul Manafort trial, has taken the stand.


LaPorta inherited Manafort's account in 2014 from accountant Philip Ayliff, whom she worked with at the tax firm Kositzka, Wicks and Company.


She is one of five witnesses with immunity on the prosecutors' roster for the trial. Without immunity, the individuals would be able to refrain from answering questions by asserting their Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination.


Before Ayliff finished his testimony, he told the jury he knew of no foreign entities —meaning companies or accounts — that Manafort had in Cyprus.


What prosecutors are trying to prove: They are trying to show that Manafort hid many foreign accounts from his personal financial service providers and from the US government, and used them to pay for expensive personal items.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-ne...ial/index.html