Manafort Trial Day 6: Gates to Continue Testimony Against Former Boss

Photo from Ukrinform

Rick Gates, a former business associate to American President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager, Paul Manafort, will continue to testify against his former boss and is expected to face a tough cross examination today, July 7, Reuters reports.

Gates, who was called to the stand on Monday, is expected to testify for at least three more hours in a Virginia courthouse.

Gates claimed yesterday that he assisted Manafort in filing false tax returns and hid millions of dollars overseas. He said that he conspired with Manafort from 2008-2015, claiming that he underreported Manafort’s income, lied to Manafort’s accountants and to the FBI.

In his testimony, Gates stated that he and Manafort had 15 foreign accounts that they did not report to the federal government, and knew it was illegal. He said that he did not submit the required forms “at Mr. Manafort’s direction.”

Gates then admitted that he also turned the tables on Manafort, cheating him out of “several hundred thousand” dollars by submitting false expense reports that were paid out of some of the undisclosed foreign bank accounts in Cyprus.

Gates, who also was an official on Trump’s campaign, pleaded guilty in February to lying to investigators and conspiring to defraud the United States, and agreed to cooperate in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia. The trial is the first of Mueller’s prosecutions to reach a jury, but lawyers have made no mention of Trump or possible campaign coordination with the Kremlin.

Gates testified that he has met with prosecutors about 20 times. It is unclear what other information he has provided to Mueller’s team.

Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.

Throughout the trial, Manafort’s defense attorneys have tried to pin the blame for his financial misdeeds on Gates, whom they also have accused of embezzling millions from Manafort’s consulting firm, but Gates has only admitted to stealing thousands of dollars, not millions.

Manafort’s lawyers are expected to use the theft to try to undermine Gates’ credibility as a witness. They also are likely to bring up his making false statements to investigators.

Prosecutors have accused Manafort and Gates of conspiring to hide a significant portion of the $60 million that Manafort earned through his political lobbying in Ukraine for the then president, Viktor Yanukovych. Later, when Yanukovych fled to Russia, the business struggled and prosecutors say Manafort lied to banks to obtain loans to help maintain his life of luxury.

One issue that could become an ongoing challenge for prosecutors today is the extent to which they are allowed to admit evidence about Manafort’s Ukraine work and the oligarchs who paid him. On Monday, Judge T.S. Ellis repeatedly clashed with prosecutors about the relevance of such testimony and once again urged them to speed things along.