Manafort trial - live updates: Rick Gates claims political consultant Konstantin Kilmnik controlled hidden overseas accounts
Trial enters second week and Rick Gates takes the stand
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Your support makes all the difference.Rick Gates, a longtime business associate of Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, on Monday testified at trial that he helped Manafort file false tax returns and hide his foreign bank accounts.
Mr Gates is expected to be the government's star witness in its case against Mr Manafort. Mr Gates, who also served on Mr Trump's campaign, pleaded guilty in February and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors under a deal that could lead to a reduced sentence.
Taking the stand on the trial's fifth day, Mr Gates admitted to helping Mr Manafort doctor financial statements, hide sources of foreign income, mislead banks to get loans and cheat on his U.S. taxes. He said he did so at Mr Manafort's direction.
“At Mr. Manafort's request we did not disclose foreign bank accounts,” Mr Gates told the jury in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, describing their relationship of two decades as limited to business. “Outside of business we did not socialise.”
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Mr Manafort's attorneys have signalled they will seek to blame Gates and have accused him of embezzling millions of dollars from Mr Manafort. Mr Gates has been described by witnesses as Mr Manafort's right-hand man who helped run the operations of a multimillion-dollar political consulting business.
In addition to assisting in Mr Manafort's alleged crimes, Mr Gates told the jury he had failed to report his own income routed through bank accounts in the United Kingdom and stole several hundreds of thousands of dollars from Mr Manafort by filing false and inflated expense reports related to their work in Ukraine.
Mr Manafort has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. The charges largely predate his five months on the Trump campaign but were the first to go to trial arising from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
The jury has heard how Mr Manafort made tens of millions of dollars for work with pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine. Mr Mueller is also investigating possible coordination between Trump campaign members and Russian officials in the election campaign, but the charges against Mr Manafort do not address that.
Prosecutors went through a list of overseas corporations and Gates testified that all of them were controlled by Mr Manafort and contained income earned by his political consulting work.
Mr Gates said an associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, had control over the overseas accounts. Mr Kilimnik is a Russian-Ukrainian political consultant who was indicted in June on charges stemming from the Mueller probe. In court filings Mueller has accused Mr Kilimnik of having current ties to Russian intelligence services - an allegation he has denied.
Mr Gates testified that Mr Manafort directed him to report overseas income as loans in order to lower taxable income - an allegation prosecutors have been eliciting testimony about from witnesses since last week.
Reuters
There was an air of anticipation outside the court room with spectators lining up for more than hour to get a seat to potentially see Mr Gates' testimony
Defence lawyer Kevin Downing’s cross-examination of accountant Cindy Laporta has started with him casting blame on both the accounting firm Kositzka, Wicks & Co. and Rick Gates for any issues with Paul Manafort’s tax and loan documents.
First Mr Downing asked why Ms Laporta, who described herself as specializes in audits, was in charge of Mr Manafort’s tax returns. She said that she worked with Philip Ayliff and a team on Mr Manafort’s taxes, which is standard at the firm.
This is Thomas Zehnle, one of Mr Manafort's lawyers, arriving at the courthouse earlier today (AP)
Mr Gates is considered a star prosecution witness in the tax and bank fraud trial of former Trump campaign chairman Mr Manafort. Mr Gates, who is cooperating with an investigation by US special counsel Robert Mueller, will be called to testify against his former boss.
A quick reminder: Mr Manafort has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. The charges largely predate his five months on the Trump campaign but arose from Mr Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
According to Reuters, aince the trial started last Tuesday, Mr Manafort's lawyers have kept their cross-examinations brief and at times refrained from attempting to rebut damaging testimony in detail.
Mr Gates' testimony has the potential to be electrifying.
Up to this point, Mr Manafort's defence has sought to blame Mr Gates for any illegal conduct and accused him of embezzling millions of dollars from Mr Manafort. Mr Gates will follow the testimony of tax preparer Cindy Laporta, who said she came to suspect Mr Gates was misleading her about Mr Manafort's finances.
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