Ex-head of Trump's headquarters accused: lie, money laundering, conspiracy against US

The FBI has charged the 12 episodes with former president of Donald Trump’s campaign headquarters, Paul Manafort, including a plot against the US government, the ministry said.

Manafort can face up to 80 years in prison if his guilt is proven. About it reports the AP agency, analyzing the sentences imposed on similar cases. Manafort’s business partner, Rick Gates, could face up to 70 years.

According to Air force, other charges include money laundering, false statements and seven counts of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.

The text of the charge against Manafort was published by the US Department of Justice; the document is available at link.

Among those involved in the investigation is the business partner of political strategist Rick Gates, who, according to law enforcement data, was a participant in most of the schemes carried out by Manafort.

The prosecution, among other things, requires the confiscation of the property of Manafort and Gates, including four properties in New York and Virginia.

At the same time, US President Donald Trump, whose campaign headquarters Manafort headed, said that all these crimes occurred before the start of their cooperation, therefore the head of the White House has nothing to do with it.

“Sorry, but this was years ago, before Paul Manafort became part of the Trump campaign,” the American leader noted on Twitter.

Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus ?????

- Donald J. Trump (@ realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017

Ранее CNN and New York Times reported that Manafort is ready to testify to the federal authorities together with his former business partner Rick Gates in the case of Russia's alleged interference in the US presidential election.

As written in Twitter eyewitnesses, on Monday morning, Manafort left his home in Alexandria, Virginia, with his lawyer. Then on US television showed footage, which shows how it enters the FBI building in Washington.

Former Trump campaign arrives at FBI in Washington DC https://t.co/lFkUJjRmIL video via @DelWilber pic.twitter.com/EFh4U90gJO

— WSJ Politics (@WSJPolitics) October 30, 2017

The FBI is conducting several inquiries about Russia's possible interference in last year’s US presidential election.

68-year-old Paul Manafort had to leave the Donald Trump team a few months before the November elections. The reason for his departure from headquarters was the reports of the American media about his connection with the pro-Russian Party of Regions in Ukraine.

Special Prosecutor Robert Muller is also investigating a number of Manafort’s real estate transactions, possible money laundering and other financial crimes, Reuters reports.

During the election campaign, the scandal gained momentum because the name of Manafort appeared in the documents of the “black cash” of Yanukovych. It turned out that over the years of cooperation he received almost $ 13 million through the shady schemes of the “Party of Regions”.

Rick Gates has long been a partner of Manafort and, presumably, has connections with a number of Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs.

Donald Trump himself has repeatedly denied his ties to Russia and called the investigation against his campaign a “witch hunt.” The Kremlin also denies interference in the American elections.

Who is Paul Manafort

Prior to working with Trump, Manafort advised such odious characters as the fleeting president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, the Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and the Bahamian Prime Minister Linden Pindling, who was accused of drug lords, wrote with the BBC.

He has also been active in American election campaigns over the past four decades, advising candidates ranging from John McCain and Bob Dole to both President Bushes.

How Manafort helped Yanukovych

To resort to the services of Manafort, the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, advised by an American, advised Ukrainian politics. During the 2004 campaign of the year, Yanukovych was assisted by political technologists from Russia. He was reportedly displeased with them and decided to resort to the help of an overseas PR expert.

Manafort is known for his ability to keep a low profile, but his handwriting could soon be recognized in Yanukovych’s well-organized election events, in his speeches and in how he gave himself to the outside world.

Many considered Manafor’s mission to improve Yanukovych’s image hopeless, but he gave his client a number of practical advice, including speaking not only in Russian, but also in Ukrainian, and not spreading his thoughts on the tree, but expressing himself compactly.

If earlier the Party of Regions made propaganda clips in which Yanukovych shouted at the camera, now he was shown walking along a sunlit street surrounded by beaming citizens.

Manafort portrayed Yanukovych as a misunderstood leader and attributed his poor reputation in the West to the latter's unwillingness to shed Cold War beliefs.

Friendship with the oligarchs and the claim of Tymoshenko

After the victory of his client in the elections in 2010, Manafort remained in Ukraine as his adviser and in the process was engaged in business, which brought him together with the local oligarch Dmitry Firtash and Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

In early October, there was news that the former head of the campaign headquarters of Donald Trump may have received loans from the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska totaling about 60 million dollars. About it reported channel NBC News. The offshore companies associated with Manafort are said to have received a total of three credits from a company owned by Deripaska, registered in the British Virgin Islands, for 26, 7 and 27 million dollars over the last 10 years. The financial ties of Manafort and Deripaska were reported earlier, but without detailed details of their relationship.

In 2011, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, who was at that moment in custody, filed a lawsuit in the Manhattan federal court, in which both Manafort and Firtash and criminal authority Semyon Mogilevich appeared.

Tymoshenko blamed Manafort for taking part in a complex scheme, the goal of which was to get even with her and her political allies for preventing Firtash from pretending to import Russian gas.

Among other things, the materials of the case state that at the end of 2008, Manafort and the Firtashev holding were discussing plans for acquiring a plot of land on which stood the famous Drake Manhattan hotel. Attempt to attract Trump as an investor in this project did not bring success, and ultimately the deal did not take place.

Tymoshenko claimed that in this way Manafort helped Firtash launder the money.

In 2014, a federal judge refused to consider a lawsuit, explaining his decision by the lack of jurisdiction. He also stated that Tymoshenko could not convincingly prove the presence of malicious intent in the actions of Manafort.

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