Monday, October 30, 2017

Paul Manafort Surrenders to F.B.I.

Well, here's your lead story for the day.

At the New York Post, "Manafort first to fall in Russia probe":
Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign manger, and his former business partner surrendered to federal authorities on Monday as the first charges are filed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Manafort and Rick Gates were charged with conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and official records, according to the indictment, referring to the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

They were indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday, and the charges were unsealed after they turned themselves in on Monday morning.

Gates is a long time business associate of Manafort’s and his name appears on documents connected to companies created by Manafort in Cyprus to receive payments from politicians and businesses in Eastern Europe, the newspaper reported.

Manafort was hired to run Trump’s campaign in May 2016 but he was forced out just three months later when news reports began questioning his work for Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He has reportedly been a focus of Mueller’s investigation, and gun-toting federal agents burst into his Alexandria, Va., home in July to execute a search warrant.

They retrieved documents and materials a day after he voluntarily appeared before staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Manafort’s shadowy work for Yanukovych has drawn recent scrutiny from Mueller’s team of investigators.

They were examining wire transfers made by off-shore companies linked to Manafort that moved $3 million around the globe between 2012 and 2013, BuzzFeed News reported on Sunday.

The transactions were being probed to determine whether Manafort was hiding money from tax authorities or helping clients in Ukraine launder money...
More.

And at Memeorandum, "Paul Manafort, Who Once Ran Trump Campaign, Told to Surrender."


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