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from The New York Times....

Mueller Files New Fraud Charges Against Paul Manafort

The charges do not involve President Trump or his campaign, but they compound
the legal problems for Mr. Manafort, his former campaign chairman.

By MATT APUZZO and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT | Thursday, February 22, 2018


Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, is facing additional charges in the special counsel investigation.
 — Photograph: Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto Agency.

WASHINGTON — The special counsel unsealed new charges on Thursday against President Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, accusing him of hiding income and defrauding banks.

Many of the charges are similar to ones he was charged with in October. According to the new 32-count indictment, Mr. Manafort provided false information about his income to banks when he applied for mortgages. Seven of the counts relate to Mr. Manafort's failure to properly file reports on his foreign bank accounts.

The indictment also revealed similar charges against Mr. Manafort's longtime business associate and campaign deputy, Rick Gates. He was indicted along with Mr. Manafort in October.

The new charges were expected. The original indictment did not explicitly bring tax charges, an omission that experts predicted that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, would ultimately correct. The first indictment also relied heavily on accusations that Mr. Manafort violated foreign lobbying laws, which have not been used at trial. The new indictment gives prosecutors more options.

The charges do not involve Mr. Trump or his campaign and involve accusations that predate either man's involvement with the president. But the investigation has been an unwanted distraction for the White House. After Mr. Gates and Mr. Manafort were indicted, a former national security adviser and a foreign policy aide to Mr. Trump have pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about their Russian connections. And 13 Russian operatives were charged with trying to sow chaos in the presidential election and tip the vote toward Mr. Trump.

The indictment depicts a complex scheme by Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates to shield tens of millions of dollars from American tax authorities by moving the funds through foreign bank accounts around the world: in Cyprus, the Seychelles, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

“Manafort and Gates hid the existence and ownership of the foreign companies and bank accounts, falsely and repeatedly reporting to their tax preparers and to the United States that they had no foreign bank accounts,” the indictment said.

The authorities allege that Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates disguised more than $10 million of their own money as loans to move the funds into the United States. At least $1.5 million was used to buy real estate for Mr. Manafort on Howard Street in SoHo, according to the documents.

A lawyer for Mr. Manafort did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates have pleaded not guilty. Mr. Manafort has also sued the Justice Department, claiming that Mr. Mueller's appointment had overstepped his authority by bringing charges unrelated to Russian meddling in the presidential election.

The new indictment raises charges of bank fraud, which are new, as well as 16 charges of filing false tax returns. Prosecutors had previously accused Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates of cheating on their taxes, but the new indictment turned each filing into an explicit charge.

The indictment was brought in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, prosecutors said, because the crime occurred there. Mr. Mueller said he did not have authority to bring the charge in Washington. The two men are now facing similar indictments in two federal courts, which raises the likelihood that Mr. Manafort's case will be moved to Alexandria.

Mr. Manafort's friends have said that Mr. Mueller's indictment is an effort to pressure him into providing information about Mr. Trump and his campaign. If so, Thursday's indictment adds to that pressure. But White House lawyers and Mr. Manafort's associates have been adamant that he does not have any information that could hurt Mr. Trump.

Court records paint an unflattering portrait of the man who ran the Trump campaign. Prosecutors say Mr. Manafort concealed years of lobbying for the pro-Russia government in Ukraine, laundered millions of dollars in proceeds and misled investigators about his foreign work.

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• Matt Apuzzo is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter based in Washington. He has covered law enforcement and security matters for more than a decade and is the co-author of the book “Enemies Within”. A graduate of Colby College, he joined The New York Times in 2014 after 11 years with the Associated Press. He teaches journalism at Georgetown University and once successfully argued a motion from the audience in federal court.

• Michael S. Schmidt is an American journalist and correspondent for The New York Times in Washington, D.C. and national security contributor for MSNBC and NBC News.

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Related to this topic:

 • 13 Russians Indicted as Mueller Reveals Effort to Aid Trump Campaign

 • Paul Manafort Sues Mueller and Asks a Judge to Narrow the Russia Investigation

 • Former Trump Aides Charged as Prosecutors Reveal New Campaign Ties With Russia

 • With a Picked Lock and a Threatened Indictment, Mueller's Inquiry Sets a Tone

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/politics/paul-manafort-new-charges-mueller.html