INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Paul Manafort is facing 18 charges in the first trial stemming from investigation in 2016 US election.Alexendria, Egypt: Prosecutors on
Thursday aggressively pressed their bank and tax fraud case against Paul Manafort, presenting testimony and documents to try to prove US
President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman deceived his lead bookkeeper and a bank about his finances.On the trial's third day, the
prosecution pivoted away from describing Manafort's lavish lifestyle, focusing instead on the nitty-gritty details of actions they believe
underpin the charges against him of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to report foreign bank accounts.Prosecutors have attempted to portray
Manafort as a tax cheat and a liar who hid much of the $60 million he earned from political work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine by
stashing it in undisclosed overseas accounts.Manafort, 69, is facing 18 charges in the first trial stemming from Special Counsel Robert
Mueller's investigation of Russia's role in the 2016 US presidential election
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to all the charges in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington.Manafort's client in
Ukraine, former President Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions, were forced out of power in 2014 and Yanukovych lives in exile in
Russia.Manafort's lead bookkeeper Heather Washkuhn, who managed the books of his personal and business finances, testified on Thursday that
by November 2016, Manafort's firm was facing a loss of more than $1 million, which grew to $1.9 million the following month.Manafort was
having difficulty paying his bills, including the bills due to her firm, said Washkuhn, managing director of the accounting firm Nigro
Karlin Segal Feldstein Bolno."I know I had asked multiple times for bills to be paid," she said.DOCTORED STATEMENTSProsecutors presented
evidence that Manafort emailed a doctored profit-and-loss statement to a Chicago bank from which he was seeking a loan.They showed jurors an
email from Washkuhn to the bank showing that, through Nov
20, 2016, his business had a net loss of $1,116,497
They then displayed another email they said Manafort sent to an executive at the bank with a profit-and-loss statement for September 2016
attached.The document stated that Manafort's consulting firm had a net income of $3,011,952
Washkuhn said she did not produce that document.The email from Manafort could potentially undercut his defence strategy
Since the trial started on Tuesday, his lawyers have sought to lay the blame for any financial irregularities on his former business partner
Rick Gates and went so far as to accuse him of embezzling money from Manafort's firm.Defence attorney Thomas Zehnle avoided asking about the
questionable document when his turn came to question Washkuhn.Taking long pauses to check his notes in between questions, he pressed
Washkuhn on whether Gates was the primary go-to guy for Manafort's financial affairs."Mr
Gates would deal with DMP items," she replied, referring to Manafort's consulting firm
Manafort was the approval source."Prosecutors also showed Washkuhn a March 2016 email that Gates had sent to a Banc of California executive
in pursuit of a loan for Manafort
The email contained a financial statement indicating Manafort's firm had a $4.45 million income for 2015.Washkuhn testified that the income
She said her firm had calculated an income of about $400,000 for the year, and that Gates had been pressuring her to add $2.6 million in
accrued revenue to the financial statement.When prosecutors showed an exhibit displaying the differences in the two accounts, one with
$400,000 in income, the other showing $4.45 million, one juror gasped, an observer sitting in the second row in front of the jury box told
Reuters."You could tell he had a visceral reaction to that," said Patrick Grasso, a retired civil servant from Alexandria.Washkuhn also
testified that she thought she had complete knowledge of Manafort's financial affairs, but was unaware of his holdings outside of the United
States and in the dark about a laundry list of corporate entities that the government says Manafort used when he wired funds to pay
expenses.Vendors who provided goods to the Manafort family testified Wednesday and Thursday that they often received overseas wire transfer
payments from companies such as Peranova Holdings Limited, Global Highway Limited and Lucicle Consultants Limited.On Thursday, the jury
heard from Joel Maxwell of a Florida-based company that did work for Manafort - it installs lighting, audio visual equipment and automation
Some of the Manafort invoices shown to him from prosecutors appeared to be have been forged, Maxwell said
It was unclear who created the invoices or how they were used.Mueller has pursued a 14-month investigation of Russia's role in the election
and potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow, though the charges against Manafort pre-date his joining Trump.Greg
Andres, a member of Mueller's team, confirmed on Thursday that the prosecution will call Gates as a witness, a day after another prosecutor
suggested they might not.Gates pleaded guilty to making false statements after being indicted and is cooperating with Mueller's probe, which
so far has led to the indictments or guilty pleas of 32 people and three companies
Trump has called Mueller's investigation a witch hunt and wants it to be shut down.© Thomson Reuters 2018(Except for the headline, this
story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
