Cross-examination in Manafort trial gets juicy

Cross-examination in Manafort trial gets juicy

August 8, 2018

Share

Paul Manafort’s partner on Wednesday wrapped up his fiery testimony after implicating himself in financial crimes, while also enduring stinging attacks on his character and credibility, in the trial of the former Trump campaign chairman.
Rick Gates has been the government’s star witness in Manafort’s financial fraud trial. He claimed that, at the behest of his longtime boss, he helped conceal millions of dollars in foreign income and submitted fake mortgage and tax documents.
Defense lawyers saw an opening to undermine his testimony by painting him as a dishonest liar, and got Gates to admit to an extramarital affair. During cross-examination, they reminded jurors how he had lied to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team while working out a plea deal to protect himself.
Exclusive: Hillary Caught Reaching Into Senior Woman’s Purse? [sponsored]
The testimony, stretching across three days, created huge courtroom drama between the two former campaign aides who were indicted together by Mueller but who have since opted for radically different strategies: Manafort is the lone American charged by Mueller to opt for trial, whereas Gates pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate by testifying against his former boss in exchange for immunity.
IT should be noted, neither man was charged in connection with their campaign work for Trump. The trial has to do with activities before their association with the president.
Prosecutors sandwiched the testimony of Gates around other witnesses who, in sometimes dry and detailed testimony, described Manafort’s lavish spending and use of offshore accounts to stash Ukrainian political consulting fees.
A clothier said he sold Manafort more than $900,000 in suits, a bookkeeper says she helped disguise foreign income as a loan to reduce Manafort’s tax burden and, on Wednesday, an FBI forensic account said Manafort hid more than 30 offshore accounts in three types of currencies from the IRS.

Sponsored: [Just for YOU]: Eat these 3 foods to ACE your blood pressure test
But Gates’ testimony generated the most drama, as the witness admitted embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from his boss, confessed to an extramarital affair and turned in spectacular fashion against Manafort, his longtime mentor.
Prosecutors relied on Gates to provide first-hand support of the accusations against Manafort.
He told jurors how he disguised millions of dollars in foreign income as loans in order to lower Manafort’s tax bill. Gates recounted how he and Manafort used more than a dozen offshore shell companies and bank accounts in Cyprus to funnel the money, all while concealing the accounts and the income from the IRS.
Prosecutors sought to soften the blow of the cross-examination by asking Gates to acknowledge his own crimes, including a lie to Mueller’s team in February. But Gates still faced aggressive questioning by Manafort’s lawyer, Kevin Downing, who at one point asked him, “After all the lies you’ve told and the fraud you’ve committed, you expect this jury to believe you?”
Introducing: “The best pain relief on the planet” [sponsored]
On Wednesday, Downing sought to counter earlier testimony that Manafort had encouraged Gates to deceive authorities by getting Gates to acknowledge that Manafort told him to be truthful about offshore shell companies and bank accounts during a 2014 interview with the FBI.
The interview was part of an FBI investigation that sought to recover assets looted from the Ukrainian government under the rule of former President Viktor Yanukovych.
Gates said under questioning Wednesday that he told FBI agents and Justice Department lawyers about some of the offshore companies that contained millions of dollars in proceeds from their Ukrainian political work.
But prosecutor Greg Andres followed up by suggesting that Gates and Manafort were not fully truthful.
Sleep like a baby with this ‘no-pill’ trick [sponsored]
“Did you tell the FBI that there was hidden income in those accounts?” Andres asked.
“No, I did not,” Gates responded.
Once Gates finished testifying, prosecutors returned to trying to make their case through documentary evidence to demonstrate Manafort’s control of offshore bank accounts containing millions of dollars. None of those accounts were reported to the IRS as required by U.S. law.
An FBI forensic accountant, Morgan Magionos, told jurors that bank records from Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the United Kingdom revealed the accounts were connected to Manafort and his associates. She said Manafort’s passport was used to open many of them in U.S. dollars, euros and British pounds.
Prescription drugs causing Diabetes? [sponsored]
A man prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence was also among the beneficial owners of some of the companies. That man, Konstantin Kilimnik, is charged along with Manafort with witness tampering in a separate case. Gates was also listed as an owner of several of the accounts.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III has interrupted prosecutors throughout the trial to encourage them to speed things along. He poked fun at himself Wednesday as he haggled with the attorneys for 20 minutes over the number and type of charts prosecutors could present during the testimony of the FBI forensic accountant.
“Judges should be patient. They made a mistake when they confirmed me. I’m not very patient, so don’t try my patience,” Ellis said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.