Manafort was ruined long ago - testimony of a personal accountant of an American politician

Witness testimony at the trial of Paul Manaforte, which lasts for the third day in the District Court of Alexandria, Virginia, showed that by 2016, the American lobbyist had been financially ruined.

According to "Voice of America“, Heather Washken spoke about the financial difficulties of the former head of the Donald Trump campaign during interrogation - Managing Director of Nigro Karlin Segal Feldstein & Bolno (NKSFB). She managed Manafort's personal and business accounts from 2011 to 2018. The annual cost of services provided by the NKSFB was approximately $ 100.

Washken confirmed that in 2016, Paul Manafort began to experience financial difficulties. The accounts of DMP International had a negative balance. This could be the basis for banking fraud, which is accused of Manafort. So, prosecutors submitted evidence that the former campaign manager, Donald Trump, sent an email to one of the Chicago banks where he was trying to get a loan, with inaccurate information about incomes. Heather Washken confirmed the discrepancy between the financial documents that she sent to Paul Manafort and those that he submitted to the bank.

Prosecutors showed the jury a letter from Washken, in which she reports that the loss of DMP International to 20 in November 2016 of the year amounted to 1 116 497 dollars. The letter, which Paul Manafort sent to the bank, states that net income amounted to 3 011 952 US dollars. Washken stated that this document was not provided by her, and pointed out inaccuracies. For example, an error was made in the word September - Septembe, as well as in the word REVIEW - REVwr.

A letter from Manafort to a bank could potentially undermine the strategy of his lawyers, who are trying to blame any financial irregularities on his former business partner Rick Gates.

Washken said that "Mr. Gates dealt with issues related to the DMP, but the last word depended on Mr. Manafort." She also said that the salary of Rick Gates, based on financial documents, was 240 thousand dollars a year. Consulting firm Manafort also paid for the services and the Ukrainian partner of the American lobbyist Konstantin Kilimnik. His surname is mentioned several times in bank transfers for different amounts: from 13 000 to 73 000 dollars.

Washken said she did not know about the existence of foreign accounts with Paul Manafort. She also had never heard of Peranova Holdings Limited, Global Highway Limited and Lucicle Consultants Limited, from which contractors received payments that performed various work for Paul Manafort.

Other witnesses appeared before Heather Washken.

So, Joel Maxwell, director of customer relations at Big Picture Solution (BPS), said that he provided services to Paul Manafort at his residences in New York, Florida and Virginia. So, Manafort spent 20 339 dollars on a video and karaoke system in one of the houses. However, this cost was overshadowed by the price of television and home entertainment systems in homes located on the East Coast of the United States. The total cost was over 2,2 million dollars. The work, according to Joel Maxwell, was paid for using bank transfers from foreign financial accounts. The prosecution showed Maxwell an invoice for 163 000, which allegedly provided BPS. The witness pointed out a number of inaccuracies in the document, in particular, on the Cyprus address of one of the clients, although there is no such company on the island.

Another witness — Michael Regolizio, who has a landscape design firm in New York, provided services to Paul Manafort to improve the area adjacent to his houses. From 2010 to 2014, he received about $450 for his work, which was transferred from Cyprus.

Recall that in court in the US state of Virginia the prosecution 1 August described luxury lifestyle, including luxury clothes, accessories, landscape designer services and more.

Rick Gates, the prosecution's key witness, is expected to testify in court on Friday.

On Wednesday, the prosecution questioned nearly ten witnesses, among whom were an FBI agent, a colleague of Paul Manafort, who worked with him in Ukraine, as well as a close friend of the American lobbyist.

The case before the district court in Alexandria is the result of the 14 month-long work of US Attorney General Robert Muller. At the same time, the trial is not connected with the possible cooperation of the election campaign of Trump with the Kremlin.