Paul Manafort’s legal travails formed the longest-running legal saga in the special counsel investigation. He was charged in federal court in Washington, DC, on October 30, 2017, with crimes related to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine, then charged again in February 2018 in Virginia, where he lived, with additional allegations, including that he filed fraudulent loan applications to banks. Accused of trying to reach out to witnesses to coach them on his defense, he was tossed in jail in June 2018, then tried in Virginia and convicted on eight felony counts. Finally, averting a second trial, he pleaded guilty in September 2018 to charges brought in Washington.
This twenty-four-page statement of offenses describes all of Paul Manafort’s crimes. He agreed that he conspired against the United States by illegally laundering through offshore accounts the $60 million he earned working in Ukraine from 2006 to 2016. He evaded $15 million in US taxes by failing to properly inform the IRS of those accounts and by lying to his own accountants and tax preparers. He failed to register as a foreign lobbyist while helping his Ukrainian clients press their views in Washington and, when questioned, submitted false information to the Department of Justice about his work.
Manafort had helped Viktor Yanukovych get elected president of Ukraine in 2010, but after Yanukovych rejected a plan to move his country toward membership in the European Union, he was ousted from office by public protests and fled to Russia. Manafort’s Ukrainian gravy train dried up. Unable to continue supporting his lavish lifestyle, Manafort conceded that he committed bank fraud by lying on loan applications. After he was charged by Robert S. Mueller III, Manafort attempted to try to tamper with witnesses, in partnership with a longtime Russian associate, Konstantin Kilimnik. (Kilimnik, who lives in Moscow, has ties to Russian intelligence, according to Mueller. Kilimnik was also charged in the effort to tamper with witnesses.) He’s in Russia and has not publicly addressed the obstruction charge, though court documents show that Manafort told prosecutors that Kilimnik didn’t think he had suborned perjury and thought it was “crazy” that he was indicted.
The conduct outlined by Mueller painted a devastating portrait of Donald Trump’s campaign chairman. Manafort had volunteered to work for Trump for free but was drowning in debt at the time. He appeared eager to use his campaign role to angle for money from his wealthy patrons in Ukraine and Russia, working in concert with an alleged Russian intelligence asset. His service for Trump coincided with the ramp-up of Russians intervention in the US election and a ratcheting-up of Trump’s pro-Russia campaign rhetoric. For all those reasons, Manafort’s decision to plead guilty and cooperate with Mueller was seen as a potential turning point for the special counsel. But in December 2018, Mueller announced yet one more twist. His team said Manafort, after sitting for twelve interviews and two sessions with the grand jury, had breached his plea agreement: they said he was still lying about matters important to the investigation.