Looks like Manafort and Gates are going under the bus for “money laundering” and tax reporting failures.
Near as I can tell, about a decade back, Manafort did some “Political Consulting” for some Ukrainians (not Russians) and the money from that was stuck into an offshore company. That company put the money into a Cyprus bank (wonder if he got burned when the EU did the Cyprus banking take down?). Then it gets more murky.
Various folks reporting various somewhat different story lines. My pieced together (and likely wrong) summary would be that by using a few other offshore companies / banks, the money was shuffled around and then at some point a “loan” was made by one of them to Manafort. There was also a statement of some (unclear what kind) of “payments” being made via wire transfer from an offshore bank account to pay for various “lavish” things for Manafort (implied property buys and / or big expense items).
The assertion seems to be that this all ought to have been reported as income, not loans, and that Manafort ought to have reported it all on his tax returns and / or declared he had foreign bank accounts or was a principle (owner?) of the offshore “shell” companies.
So the real question is did he have valid legal and tax advice on how to structure these entities and money flows and this is a witch hunt (indict the “ham sandwich” and get him to talk dirt on Trump); or was Manafort doing something that looks questionable at best and is, in fact, illegal money laundering and tax evasion.
As one example story:
Ex-Trump campaign manager Manafort indicted on conspiracy, other charges
Karen FreifeldWASHINGTON (Reuters) – Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, was indicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy against the United States, the most serious step yet in a special counsel investigation into Russian links with Trump’s 2016 White House campaign.
Manafort, 68, a longtime Republican operative, arrived at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington field office on Monday morning to hand himself in after being indicted by a federal grand jury.
Manafort associate Rick Gates was also indicted. He was also due to surrender, the New York Times reported.
The 12-count indictment was the first from the investigation by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s campaign to try to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor.
Lawyers for Gates and Manafort did not immediately return calls for comment.
The Russia investigations by Mueller and by several congressional panels have cast a shadow over the Republican’s nine-month-old presidency and have widened the rift between Republicans and Democrats.
Manafort ran the Trump campaign from June to August of 2016 before resigning amid reports he might have received millions in illegal payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.
It was not immediately clear if the charges, some of which go back at least a decade, related to Manafort’s work as campaign manager. Neither Trump nor his campaign were mentioned in the indictment.
[…]
The indictment contains counts of conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, acting as unregistered agents of Ukraine’s government, false and misleading statements and failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts, the federal special counsel said.The charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.
[…]
Mueller has been investigating Manafort’s financial and real estate dealings and his prior work for that political group, the Party of Regions, which backed former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.A federal grand jury issued the indictment on Friday and a federal judge ordered it sealed, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Gates was a long-time business partner of Manafort and has ties to many of the same Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. He also served as deputy to Manafort during his brief tenure as Trump’s campaign chairman.
Manafort was indicted on nine counts and Gates was indicted on eight counts.
So since when is Ukraine Russia?
This is long before Trump was even running for anything, so it’s related to the campaign how again?
Looks to me like a question for accountants and tax auditors more than special prosecutors and criminal charges. Then again, I’m not a political shark lawyer.
So IF Manafort did the tax structure / paperwork wrong, he might be in the wringer. Nothing to do with Trump. Not coming from Russia. After months and months and $Millions, this is what they got? Wealthy people structuring their income via corporations to avoid taxes? With that as the Standard, Soros and the Clintons ought to be in prison for life terms…
Musings from the Chiefio 
Looks like Papadopoulos is going down for having “lied” about meetings that themselves are not illegal…
http://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-george-papadopoulos-pleaded-guilty-fbi-russia-contacts-2017-10
So he attempted to arrange a meeting between a candidate and a foreign head of state, plus some others in the government.
Um, and if it was not the vilified Russia this would be bad how?
So is Russia the big boogie man forever now? Shall no one ever have any meetings, phone calls, or business deals with anyone in (or in the case of Ukraine, near…) Russia? Is all of NASA in trouble as they work closely with Russia and Russians? Obama met Putin, so is Obama now evil too? Hillary sold them a vast chunk of Uranium land (and got special treatment in return…) so when is her Perp Walk for dealing with The Evil Russian Empire?
Is it “OK” to have such meetings with EU members, or the UK, or Australia, but Not Russia? On what grounds? Rumors? Where is the pariah list posted?
Sheesh.
Full Disclosure:
I watch RT because they “talk dirt” about the west at times so it’s a good way to find what news media here wants to hide. Many of the programs are too anti-capitalist for my tastes though, so I mostly just watch the basic news. Oh, and Larry King gives me the creeps so I don’t watch his show, plus Jessie Ventura is a bit ‘out there’ and I don’t watch his show either.
I have been known to drink Vodka sometimes. I even drank Stoli a couple of times, but it was a couple of decades ago.
In college, I took one Russian class. I did very badly in it as the alphabet was a block for me.
I’ve read Anna Karenina (it was assigned…). I found it too long and a bit boring.
My wife and I once had lunch at a local Russian Deli and I liked it.
Here is a quick video summary of the charges from Judge Napolitano on Fox news.
Fox News video Judge Napolitano summary
There are also connections to Russian affiliated Ukrainian contacts involved in the complex back door payment system he used. Since this is the opening gabmit of the prosecution hard to tell who they are really aiming for here. He could also have information about Hillary’s russian connections, or simply be a corrupt lobbyist which is hardly news in DC.
Although some say this action was urgently pushed forward when the Uranium 1 scandel started to build momentum, which raises the question is this cover for Uranium 1 participants or an effort to prevent the media accidentally blowing the investigation on Uranium 1 activities?
On the other side of the coin (if true) we have this info about the Judge who is handling the Monofort case having close connections to the Hillary and Obama.
http://truepundit.com/manaforts-judge-was-obama-also-is-relative-of-rino-anti-trumper-paul-ryan/
From twitter: (Trump Campaign was not interested in Russian overtures)
The Zen Monster @TheZenMonster 39 minutes ago
Replying to @MichaelRCaputo @JackPosobiec
The footnote explains that…
Some more background on the judge handling the case:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/30/paul-manafort-judge-who-is-deborah-robinson.html
For the moment, the indictment takes the heat off the Democrats and the Clintons in reference to their negotiating transfer of 20% of US Uranium reserve to the Russians and receiving a major windfall/bribe/payoff/kickback/gratuity. The so called legal proceedings will take years to reach an end point. The MSM will continue to make sure that news about the Uranium deal doesn’t see the light of day.
Meanwhile, anything Republican or anti-establishment will be attacked for the slightest error. Failure to dot an ‘i’, cross a ‘t’, a misplaced comma, or a form line left blank will give rise to endless accusations and charges in a continued attempt to keep the Republicans off balance. Unfortunately, the only thing most Congressional Republicans seem to be good at is talk and caving into the Democrats when the going gets rough, I don’t expect much out of them.
Since the indictment is only one move in the endless game of political chess, the situation could turn quickly. The next move is Trump’s to take. Though his is under attack, he is not yet checkmated. The next step will be interesting to say the least.
Full indictment text:
https://www.justice.gov/file/1007271/download
Bit of background on George Papadopoulos guilty plea to FBI
(used Facebook to communicate with Russian contacts – well gee that was professional and secure)
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/10/30/donald-trump-campaign-adviser-george-papadopoulos-flips-pleads-guilty-to-false-statements-to-fbi/
Possible blow back on the Podesta brothers too from this as they also have lots of connections to Russian interests and the Democrats.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314?lo=ap_a1
Direct links between Manafort and the Podesta brothers.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mueller-seeks-grand-jury-testimony-pr-execs-who-worked-manafort-n796066
Might be the gateway to Uranium One scandal
From twitter:
Sean DavisVerified account @seanmdav 17 minutes ago
Podesta Group, implicated in Manafort indictment, also took $200k at least to lobby on behalf of Uranium One.
Papadopoulos went down almost 4 weeks ago, so that is old news (but released to coincide with the Manafort indictment).
Manafort is being charged with the “everyone is guilty of something” crime. The evidence is not good, but they are hoping for a sympathetic jury (probably get one) and then dealing for bigger fish. The problem is timing. Cases like this where the evidence is merely supposition get dragged out a long time (defense has to prepare). And Mueller does not have that much time. Neither do the democrats.
Minor factual error in the indictment might gum things up a bit. Although it does not directly impact the specific crimes it will provide a foot hold and pretext to challenge the indictment.
https://lawnewz.com/high-profile/manafort-indictment-contains-at-least-one-glaring-factual-error/
Another look
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2017/10/when-a-republic.html#comments
Hmmmmm – from twitter:
Ryan Saavedra
🇺🇸Verified account @RealSaavedra
Clinton connected Podesta Group, which is “Company B” in Mueller’s indictment, got $200K lobbying Uranium One in Moscow. H/T
[could this be the gateway to investigate the Uranium One scandal?]
I’m leaning toward Podestas / Elias / FusionGPS being the next indicted, with DWS not far behind. Bring in the Iwans, too. Seems to me that Manafort’s association with Podestas is more cogent than with any Trump personage, as a leverage mechanism.
Written mid September but food for thought about where we are.
I think she pretty well nailed it- we are just entering act 3 and beginning the take names and kick A** phase.
http://www.jpost.com/Blogs/Think-With-Me/Trump-and-the-Hatchet-Man-Maneuver-504661
OK, this was linked from Drudge. I don’t read Inforwars very often at all, but it’s an interesting proposition.
“WASHINGTON, D.C. – Special Counselor Robert Mueller’s case is in danger of being thrown out of court when the FBI is forced to admit FISA court authority to conduct electronic surveillance on former Trump campaign Paul Manafort was based on the fraudulent Fusion GPS “Russia dossier” that the FBI, the Clinton campaign, and the Democratic National Committee paid to be produced.”
https://www.infowars.com/fbi-reliance-on-discredited-fusion-gps-russia-dossier-threatens-manafort-prosecution/
This is beginning to look like a Blackmail operation by the “Russians” to extort money and favors from American politicians by using information dug, hacked and fake news loaded. These people are working all sides for gain and position. Time to look UP! Every one is being played by this outsider…pg
So where is the Podesta indictment? A good article here…
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/10/10_30_2017_15_32.html
Well, maybe they are all guilty as hell and want all their crimes revealed on the phony dossier lead, and then dismissed as fruit from the poison tree.
From twitter:
Thomas Wictor Retweeted
Adrian @AdrianRusso82 4 hours ago
Replying to @ThomasWictor
Podesta is screwed. His own website wrote a blog calling #UraniumOne a RUSSIAN company and solicited other foreign customers for CFIUS help
MSNBC had Rachel whatzername making an interesting observation. (Surprise!)
The Manafort indictment says he made $75 million that was washed through overseas accounts and companies, but that he only spent $18 million of it that’s accounted for. Where’s the rest?
Second point: They showed where a bunch of money went. Wire transfers for things like clothes and gardening services. Now what got me going “wha?” was that it was numbers like just under a $Million for gardening services and another huge amount for rugs, then there was something near a $Million for clothes.
Now is it just me, or does a Million dollars of clothes and rugs sound a bit strange? I mean, sure the guy is going to wear nice tailored suits, but $Million worth of them? Really? And who uses $900,000 of lawn mowing?
So for some of it I’ve got to wonder if the overseas money went to overseas companies that bought property here, and then paid for renovation and landscaping for, say, rental properties? Now if that’s the case, it would be a company doing business here, not Manafort getting personal services.
It would be perfectly legal for Manafort to earn money as an employee or contractor to an overseas company, and for those earnings to be retained in that company and then invested here in properties and repairs as that company. And, as long as he is an officer of that company, it can provide to him things like company car, hotel costs for travel, etc. as long as he is on company business.
Now this is all speculative on my part, but it sure looks to me like maybe that was the dodge he was using and the Feds are saying “No, we want to pierce the corporate veil and call it personal money”. Now while it is possible to do that, usually the conditions must be pretty extreme… otherwise every guy with a company car and every lawn service and repair company with the owner driving a “company” truck are in trouble…
So I think some devil and details are needed. Like that nearly a $Million for clothes: All his, or some of it uniforms for service folks at properties his company managed? If it’s all Deluxe Suits custom tailored to make him look good, that’s one expensive set of suits and hard to justify as a company expense…
Basically, IMHO, his companies need to show some real business activities that were being justified or it’s just a money laundry shell to turn personal expense into business deductions… BUT, if they are doing legitimate business and these are, even if tenuous, legal deductions / expenses, then somebody is blowing a lot of smoke.
Some interesting tweets in from twitter
Stealth JeffVerified account @drawandstrike 47 minutes ago
1) After a brief period of shock in which they asked themselves “Why did Trump just hire one of the DIRTIEST, most CORRUPT people in DC…”
2) “…to be, of all things, his CAMPAIGN MANAGER?!”, Democrats, swamp dwellers & DNC Media quickly decided they’d USE this against Trump.
3) Manafort was bait. I’m convinces Kushner was actually running this thing behind the scenes.
4) Jared Kushner was the real campaign manager so Trump put a LIGHTENING ROD out front to catch all the heat.
5) And this was true even AFTER Manafort left the campaign after 3 months & @KellyannePolls took over the job of front person.
6) Kelly Anne did a FANTASTIC job of handling the media & PR, allowing Kushner the freedom to work in deep background on actual strategy.
7) It should be OBVIOUS at this point why Trump hired 1 of the people well known to be neck deep in D.C.’s corrupt lobbying networks.
8) DNC Media has to fight really hard NOT to see it because it absolutely destroys their view of Trump & the REAL team around him.
9) I don’t mean the people he puts out there as fronts, to be lightening rods & do the hatchet work like @Scaramucci.
10) Don’t misunderstand. Manafort was a patsy. @Scaramucci was not. Scaramucci KNEW what role he was being asked to play.
11) I don’t think Manafort knew he was being used as a patsy to facilitate cover in a forthcoming deep dive by FBI into DC’s illegal lobbies
12) Manafort pleading not guilty means he’s likely not taking a deal and he thinks the DC lobby network can fight off this takedown.
13) Somebody game planned well in advance. “Say we win. Biggest thing we need to do in DC first term: take down these lobbying networks.”
14) “HOW do we do it without instantly alerting every single 1 of these lobbying groups doing this illegal stuff that we’re coming for’em?”
15) And the answer is, you make them think ALL of them are safe because it’s the PRESIDENT’S OWN TEAM that’s being investigated, not them.
16) See, it’s just TRUMP & MANAFORT that in trouble. So Dems, DNC Media, swamp dwellers relax, watch the fun for the last 8 months.
17) IF DNC Media & Democrats & GOPe & Fusion GPS & Podesta & all these others doing illegal lobbying/bribery for foreign powers had known
18) where Mueller’s investigation was ACTUALLY going to go, they’d have unleashed the dogs of war LONG AGO to stop this well before now.
19) The MOMENT they realized this was going straight to the heart of their illegal lobbying networks, their political comms shops, all of it
20) they’d have blown the war horn & marshaled the troops & mobilized their media/political army to neutralize the investigation.
21) BUT THEY WERE PARALYZED by 1 of the most brilliant disinformation campaigns ever launched.
22) People bought cover stories about a Trump WH under investigation, in complete chaos, being hounded by the DOJ/FBI.
23) And the entire time the DNC Media, GOPe & the swamp sat on it’s ass watching in glee as the kabuki theater went on in front of them?
24) Trump & Stealth Jeff & Honest Bob were crossing all those t’s and dotting all those i’s on #UraniumOne & #FusionGPS.
25) Mueller’s had 8 months to work in peace because all these corrupticrats and swamp dwellers had NO IDEA what he was really doing.
26) And now it’s too late. Bob followed the money. He knows who got what, how much, and from who. Game’s already over.
27) What makes this even MORE awesome is a lot of the legwork on #UraniumOne, in mapping out that bribery network was already done long ago.
28) See, hardworking, dedicated, patriotic FBI agents had TRACED the millions in Russian bribery $ to US officials & businessmen by 2011.
29) They knew exactly who got what & how much & from who & what deals were done/not done in exchange for that dirty $.
30) AND THEN THEY WERE TOLD TO DROP IT.
31) Turns out to many DC power players were involved in these dirty lobbying/bribery networks. On both sides. This CAN’T be exposed.
32) So the case was ended, ONE GUY, the Russian money handler, Mikerin, was convicted on a far lesser charge, and….that was it.
33) All those traitors who took dirty Russian bribes to change our nat’l security policy walked. All of them.
34) THIS is one of the biggest dirty secrets in Washington. People KNOW who took bribes from foreign countries to shape our US policy….
35) AND NOTHING WAS DONE TO STOP IT. The system was too dirty, too corrupted, and nothing could be done to change it. And then….
36) …A MIRACLE HAPPENED!
37) Somebody who KNEW how DC worked, and yet was still an OUTSIDER got elected President of the United States.
38) And he & the team of people around him crafted a strategy for taking on the swamp and draining it. And it’s going to WORK.
39) Now that people know what Trump & Co. are actually doing, the howls of outrage from Dems, DNC Media, GOPe & the swamp = LOUD.
40) “But Trump!” the GOPe’ll wail “You can’t DO this! You’ll sweep our own people too!” Trump: “Yeah? So? I don’t see the problem here.”
41) As these indictments unfold, remember: Trump hired 1 of the DIRTIEST people in DC to be his fake campaign manager.
42) And then canned him after 3 months. Trump has also surrounded himself not with CIA intel types, but MILITARY SPOOKS.
43) Democrats & DNC Media & those DC Swamp Things may never fully figure out what really happened in the last year.
44) But that’s OK. What matters is that they can’t stop what’s GOING to happen now over the next year. /end
Um, at this point in the game, everyone pleads not guilty. It is only later, when hearings are scheduled for discovery that trial decisions (or plea bargains) happen. Remember, this was an indictment. Indicted person surrenders for arraignment and enters the proforma plea. It is only now that the indicted person can get access to what the government has. The government is supposed to provide the defense with the good and the bad that they have. This is when ‘fruit of the poisoned tree’ can get excluded.
@E.M. – Re: devil in the details.
Yes, and your journeyman questions are why I said this trial is going to run very long. I think you are closer to the real truth than Mueller, but trials are not about truths, but perceptions. So each side will argue their side and push the perception to the Jury. And it will take a very long time.
Even if convicted (given the Jury pool, more likely than not), it will be over turned on appeal. But as a wedge, it is useless to get Manafort to turn. Papadopolous was easier, but then he also is basically worthless. He lied. Anyone getting caught doing that after Stewart and Libby is a few cans short of a six pack.
E.M.
“The Press Loves Fusion GPS
One of the dirty little secrets in Washington is that Fusion is a longtime source for journalists, planting political hits that Fusion is paid by third parties to dig up. Now the press corps is defending its meal ticket, often without reporting honestly about Fusion and how it works.”
Link at
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2017/11/your-moral-and-454.html
The source of the entire Russian collusion BS lies with the Clintons and the DMC. The latest news is that they have paid 12 million USD for the report. It also could be possible that the meeting between Trump Jr. and Kushner with the Russian Lawyer has been a well prepared trap set by the Dems to create a stick to wag Trump. I smell rats all over the place.
Rats bailing a sinking ship; http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-02/shocking-truth-donna-brazille-accuses-clinton-campaign-rigging-primary
Finally, Democrats are beginning to turn on the Clinton Crime Machine. Slowly at first but this will turn into a tidal-wave. Sleaze runs deep in the Democratic Party but generally they cover for each other. Brazil, turning on them, will burst the dam of protection that they have enjoyed for the last 40 years….pg
More popcorn.
The rats are turning on each other.
I have enjoyed the last year of TV as nothing before.
In the last 20 years little on the News has held my attention,the naked bias and lying by omission being of brief amusement as I channel surf.
However Trump Derangement Syndrome has held my rapt attention every evening since last years election.
The Master Showman has lived rent free in the hearts and minds of his opponents , every night I have fired up the TV for an hour to enjoy more “progressive” meltdowns.
This “Russian Collusion” meme is backfiring on the Uni-Party Types, noticably after President Trump has allowed them to self identify.
Sunlight is wonderful stuff.
You have to wonder who won the election last year. The GOP is letting the Dems and the “Deep State” harass Trump and anyone who tried to help his campaign.
Meanwhile real crimes committed by the Clintons, the DNC and their toadies are ignored.
Time for the Republican leadership to lead or get out of the way.
@GC – I said a year ago that Trump was the outsider and if elected (since elected) he would be governing against both sides. The current situation merely confirms that.
There are a few in the Republican party that want to govern as leaders. Most want the old status quo back.