According to Jason Abel, attorney and former Chief Counsel of the Senate Rules Committee, Paul Manafort may have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (also known as FARA) by not disclosing his foreign agent status with the Ukraine.
FARA was enacted in 1938, so it stands to reason Mr. Manafort and his cronies were well aware the Act existed.
www.fara.gov
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was enacted in 1938. FARA is a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents. The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act.
www.fara.gov/…
Are there criminal penalties for violating the Act?
That would be a big YES.
Yes, failure to register, keep accounts, mark informational materials, provide a congressional committee with a copy of the agent's most recent registration, and agreeing to a contingent fee based on the success of political activity are violations of the Act. The FARA Unit seeks to obtain voluntary compliance with the statute.
Enforcement and Penalties: www.fara.gov/...
Interestingly enough, the New York Times reported in 2008 that Paul Manafort and his firm were called out by the Bush administration for their foreign agent work with the Ukraine in 2005. The Bush administration complained that their work with the Ukraine was undercutting their foreign policy there.
Wow!
www.nytimes.com/...
For instance, a lobbying firm owned by Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, has worked in recent years for a Ukraine politician, Viktor Yanukovich. Both Mr. McCain and the Bush administration supported the opponent of Mr. Yanukovich, who had close ties to Vladimir V. Putin, then the president of Russia and now prime minister.
During this time, however, Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, never registered as a lobbyist for Mr. Yanukovich even though Paul Manafort, Mr. Davis’s business partner, had met with the United States ambassador in Kiev on Mr. Yanukovich’s behalf.
In a related development, Mr. McCain may have first become aware of Davis Manafort’s activities in Ukraine as far back as 2005. At that time, a staff member at the National Security Council called Mr. McCain’s Senate office to complain that Mr. Davis’s lobbying firm was undercutting American foreign policy in Ukraine, said a person with direct knowledge of the phone call who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Manafort has a track record here, just like his boss’s love for Putin. These people are corrupt and are not interested in protecting the interests of America. They are only interested in lining their pockets at the expense of US foreign policy.