Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business associate, Rick Gates, have been indicted in a federal court on 12 counts, including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States, and making false and misleading statements.
Manafort turned himself in to the FBI field office in Washington on Monday morning.
WATCH:
There are no allegations of collusion with Russian operatives in the indictment, which was issued by a Washington grand jury on Friday and unsealed after Manafort’s arrest.
Manafort, 68, joined the Trump campaign last March as an adviser for the Republican convention. In May, the longtime Republican consultant was promoted to campaign chairman. He resigned in August after reports about his consulting work in Ukraine began to emerge in the press.
The charges center on Manafort’s and Gates’ involvement in an alleged money laundering operation utilizing offshore companies. Manafort and Gates, who were partners at the lobbying firm Davis Manafort, are also accused of hiding income from consulting work they did in Ukraine for a political party affiliated with Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s former president.
The indictment, which is signed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, says that between 2006 and 2014, Manafort and Gates failed to disclose lobbying and public relations work they conducted at the direction of Yanukovych and his political party, the Party of Regions.
The indictment alleges that Manafort and Gates were in direct contact with Yanukovych as part of the consulting contract.
Manafort and Gates are also accused of laundering tens of millions of dollars from offshore shell companies. Manafort laundered $18 million from overseas companies by wiring funds to businesses in the U.S., including a men’s clothing store in New York, an antique rug store in Virginia, and a home improvement company in the Hamptons.
The indictment appears only loosely related to the core of Mueller’s Russia, which began in May when the former FBI director was appointed special counsel. Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate Russian interference in the U.S. election, as well as any related issues, including possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.
If collusion did occur — and Trump vehemently denies that it did — Manafort would be a likely participant given his links to pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine. Manafort has also done business with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian aluminum magnate with close ties to Putin.
Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that just after joining the Trump campaign, Manafort sent emails to a Ukrainian business associate in which he appeared to offer to brief Deripaska on the campaign.
“If he needs private briefings we can accommodate,” Manafort wrote to his associate on July 7, 2016.
Read the full indictment here:
Manafort-gates Indictment Filed and Redacted by Chuck Ross on Scribd
