Another former adviser pleads guilty to lying to FBI on Russian link

Paul Manafort’s indictment relates to activities years ago, asserts US President

President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his (Manafort’s) former business associate Rick Gates have been indicted on charges of conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, tax fraud and other financial crimes.

In what was the first indictment launched in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential poll, the two men have been targeted for moneys made through lobbying from the former pro-Russia party that was in power in Ukraine. Both of them surrendered to the FBI on Monday.

Separately, George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, is reported to have pleaded guilty in the first week of October to making false statements to FBI regarding his meeting with a Russian contact.

President Trump, in his first reaction on Twitter, sought to distance his campaign from the charges against Manafort, saying these related to years before he joined his campaign. Asserting there has been no collusion between his campaign and the Russians, Trump said it is “Crooked Hillary (Clinton) and the Dems” who ought to be the focus of the probe.

Trump fired the 68-year-old Manafort in August last year, after a five-month stint, when word about his covert lobbying for pro-Russian interests in Ukraine first came to light.

Both Manafort and Gates face a 12-count indictment that talks of money laundering to the tune of millions of dollars. It alleges that they moved more than $75 million through secret bank accounts in Cyprus, St. Vincent and Grenadines and the Seychelles. Manafort has been accused of laundering more than $18 million. 

While the indictment against the two men said nothing about the Russian interference in the US presidential race, reports citing prosecutors said the guilty plea entered by Papadopoulos earlier this month was about lying to the FBI about his contact with a Russian professor who had ties to Kremlin officials.

There was no immediate word from Trump or the White House regarding Papadopoulos’s guilty plea, but former US Attorney Preet Bharara tweeted: “Special Counsel Mueller appears to have a cooperating witness, George Papadopoulos. That is significant. Time will tell how significant.”

The indictment against Manafort and Gates, filed in a Washington federal court, speaks of conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, acting as an unregistered foreign agent and several charges related to failing to report foreign bank and financial accounts.

The Associated Press reported that Manafort also represented a Russian billionaire a decade ago with the goal of advancing the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The news agency said the White House declined to comment on the report, while a spokesman for Manafort did not immediately return calls or text messages requesting comment.

“Manafort used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States without paying taxes on that income,” the indictment said.

It noted, “As part of the scheme, Manafort and Gates repeatedly provided false information to financial bookkeepers, tax accountants and legal counsel, among others.”

It said Manafort used the more than $18 million of laundered money to buy property, goods and services in the United States – income that he concealed from the US Treasury, Department of Justice and others.

The indictment charged Gates with aiding Manafort in “obtaining money from these offshore accounts, which he was instrumental in opening. like Manafort, Gates used money from these offshore accounts to pay for his personal expense, including his mortgage, children’s tuition and interior decorating of his Virginia residence.” The indictment said Gates transferred more than $3 million from the offshore accounts to other accounts that he controlled.