Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s appearance in federal court on Friday morning turned into a legal earthquake when it was revealed that Manafort had agreed to cooperate with the Robert Mueller-led special counsel investigation. This revelation was followed by a closed-door session in which it’s suspected Manafort provided immediate, under-oath testimony about key events. It’s a potentially pivotal moment in the Trump–Russia investigation and a monster surprise for Trump.
Mueller now has a “Murderer’s Row” of Trump’s campaign associates, all lined up to testify about their knowledge of Trump’s actions in the campaign and in his business dealings. That is definitely a cockle-warming situation for those who have been worried that the Mueller investigation might lap at Trump’s golf spikes, but stop short of his orange shins. With Manafort agreeing to cooperate, there may be other shoes to drop, but there are no more shoes necessary.
But while waiting for the happy Friday when Roger Stone, or Donald Trump Jr., or Jared Kushner finds his name on a fresh Mueller court filing—or the day when Mueller’s final report lands with a nail-in-coffin thump on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s desk—it’s worth reviewing the other part of Paul Manafort’s plea: the plea part. Because what Manafort admits to in these documents is just astoundingly ugly.
On a gross level, Manafort’s charges include dozens of instances in which he illegally drew on money from offshore accounts, mostly from Cyprus-based banks connected to Russian oligarchs. He uniformly failed to report bringing that money into the United States.
Manafort laundered more than $30 million to buy property, goods, and services in the United States, income that he concealed from the United States Treasury, the Department of Justice, and others. MANAFORT cheated the United States out of over $15 million in taxes
$30 million worth of townhouses and ostrich vests, paid for by taking money from Russian oligarchs and ripping off the U.S. government … seems like the kind of thing that’s obnoxious enough that not even Trump’s top supporters would cheer on a pardon with universal acclaim. Manafort also used the properties he purchased in this scheme as collateral to purchase even more expensive properties, compounding his money laundering with bank fraud. Manafort also disguised $13 million of under-the-table payments from a Russian billionaire as “loans,” to avoid income taxes.
While the initial charging document for Manafort’s now-aborted second trial included seven charges, and the plea deal includes only two, elements of several previous charges have actually been rolled up into this first charge, which can be characterized as—money: illegal ways to get it and spend it.
But, surprisingly enough, the naked greed of the first charge can’t really hold a candle to the awfulness that Manafort admits to in Count Two. On the foreign lobbying front, Manafort didn’t just lobby in person. He hired at least six other firms to lobby for his Russian bosses. As part of this lobbying, Manafort concocted some extraordinarily vicious schemes—schemes that he is admitting to in this plea.
MANAFORT, in written communications on or about May 16, 2013, directed his lobbyists … to write and disseminate within the United States news stories that alleged that Tymoshenko had paid for the murder of a Ukrainian official. MANAFORT stated that it should be “push[ed]” “[w]ith no fingerprints.” “It is very important we have no connection.” MANAFORT stated that “[m]y goal is to plant some stink on Tymo.”
That’s Manafort’s putting “some stink on” the pro-Western candidate by falsely accusing them of a murder to help his pro-Russian candidate. And that was far from all that Manafort did in his attempts to smear Tymoshenko.
MANAFORT orchestrated a scheme to have, as he wrote in a contemporaneous communication, “[O]bama jews” put pressure on the Administration to disavow Tymoshenko and support Yanukovych. MANAFORT sought to undermine United States support for Tymoshenko by spreading stories in the United States that a senior Cabinet official (who had been a prominent critic of Yanukovych’s treatment of Tymoshenko) was supporting anti-Semitism because the official supported Tymoshenko, who in turn had formed a political alliance with a Ukraine party that espoused anti-Semitic views. MANAFORT coordinated privately with a senior Israeli government official to issue a written statement publicizing this story. MANAFORT then, with secret advance knowledge of that Israeli statement, worked to disseminate this story in the United States, writing to Person D1 “I have someone pushing it on the NY Post. Bada bing bada boom.” MANAFORT sought to have the Administration understand that “the Jewish community will take this out on Obama on election day if he does nothing.”
Going over that again: Manafort came up with a scheme to have what he called “Obama Jews” lean on the Obama administration. To bolster this, he spread stories that a U.S. cabinet official was anti-Semitic for opposing the pro-Russian candidate. Manafort then worked with an Israeli official to create a story that he could push in the New York Post.
Oh, and Manafort’s charging document may be the first legal document in history to actually include the phrase “Bada bing bada boom.” Because Manafort seemed to believe he was a character in The Sopranos—except less civil.
Manafort also worked to create the “Hapsburg Group” of European officials and well-known individuals to lobby in the U.S. for his Ukraine clients while having no obvious connection to Manafort’s firm. This shadowy group of foreign officials who wined and dined American politicians to twist them to a pro-Russian position on Ukraine isn’t a wild conspiracy theory. That’s something Manafort is admitting to in this plea. The Hapsburg Group illegally wired money to U.S. lobbying firms, with Manafort’s assistance. They argued against bills before the United States Congress. They also lent their names to op-eds, many of which were ghost-written by Manafort.
The details of this count suggest that Manafort might not have as much to worry about in terms of state charges within the United States as he does about possible charges overseas. For example, Belgium might be quite interested in how Manafort set up a “nonprofit” organization in that country which declared that it was totally not connected to the Ukrainian government and the Party of Regions … when it totally was. And it was not non-profit.
There are a good number of “fun” items in the counts, such as Manafort telling the investigation he had no documents relevant to his work in Ukraine, right before the FBI raided his house, office, and storage facility to find heaps of such documents. Or the lengths that Manafort went to in routing items from one company, to another company, to a third company—all of which was laid out by Mueller’s team, who had no apparent trouble following the bouncing money bag. It’s easy to brush off Manafort’s attempts to thwart justice as laughable, until it’s pointed out that Manafort has been getting away with this for at least a decade.
For those wondering just how money-laundering through real estate works, Manafort’s documents detail at least one way. Manafort used illegal foreign money to simply buy real estate. Because real estate laws are notoriously protective in guarding sources, he could more easily plow this money into a condo or apartment building than into his bank account. Once he purchased the property, Manafort then took out mortgages against the property. At that point, he had both cash and property. Then he used the property as collateral to buy other properties. All of which would have worked better had Manafort ever controlled his spending impulses well enough to pay off the first set of mortgages, but he didn’t. Despite running through almost $60 million of off-the-books, tax-free funds, Manafort still managed to be perpetually on the edge of bankruptcy while buying himself suits that cost in the five-figure range. It takes real dedication to be both that venal and incompetent.
Manafort’s plea includes a recommended sentence maximum of 10 years, to be served in conjunction with his eight convictions on money laundering and fraud at his first trial in Virginia. While earlier assumptions had made it seem likely that for Manafort, who is 69, any sentence would be a “life sentence,” based on the given guidelines and standard procedures, he could easily be out on probation in three to five years.
In addition to the prison sentence, Manafort had agreed to forfeit properties that were either paid for directly using illegal funds from overseas accounts, or which were obtained through bank fraud in which those illegal funds were reported as collateral or income. Included in the list of property to be surrendered is Manafort’s home in the Hamptons, two properties in New York City, and a home in Alexandria, Virgnia. Estimates of the worth of the properties Manafort is forfeiting have been as high as $46 million—more than enough to cover the cost of the entire special counsel investigation.
Considering the property forfeitures and in-court discussion of “safety” for both Manafort and his family, it seems possible that some kind of relocation program or witness protection deal might have been struck for Manafort or members of his family. If the Justice Department does already have a nice little Truman Show-style domed town where they can keep witnesses safe from both Trump goons and dabs of Russian nerve agent, this would be an excellent time to start one.
Paul Manafort’s plea agreement shows the consultant who earned the nickname “the torturer’s lobbyist” still in there smearing opponents the old-fashioned way using allegations of murder and anti-Semitism. And it shows him sending out shadowy cabals of foreign agents to spread his influence. And it shows him creating fake NGOs to act as his agents. And it shows him leaning on everyone from congressmen to cabinet officials. AND it shows him employing “Obama Jews” to manipulate actions in Washington. That’s the stuff that Manafort admitted to in taking his deal.
It’s just part of the actions he took to support the interests of Russia in the United States. Whether campaigning for Donald Trump was part of that support, we don’t yet know. But Robert Mueller does.
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