Russia

New Indictments of Manafort and Gates Unsealed

Written by SK Ashby

The new indictments of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates first reported yesterday have been unsealed and released to the public.

As expected, the new 32-count indictment details the shady financial dealings of Manafort and Gates that go further that we may have envisioned.

The indictment describes the "lavish lifestyle" that Manafort and Gates enjoyed using over $75 million in money that flowed through various off-shore accounts ($30 million of which was laundered); money they earned as unregistered foreign agents who owed allegiance to former Ukrainian president and pro-Russian stooge Victor Yanukovych.

The indictment states that Manafort and Gates did not disclose or pay taxes on any of their income. Manafort used his share of the money to buy multi-million dollar real-estate properties while Gates used his to remodel his home and send his kids to college.

Perhaps most importantly, the indictment says the Manafort and Gates scheme continued until at least January of 2017. That means both men were getting paid under the table by foreign entities the entire time they were part of Trump's campaign.

The obvious question is who knew that? It's not just a question of whether anyone in the Trump family knew, but which foreign governments knew? Could this information have been used to blackmail Manafort while he was Trump's campaign manager? There are a million related questions I can think of just off the top of my head.

I have no doubt that Mueller's team is asking the same questions.

You can read the indictment for yourself which is embedded below.

Here's another copy in case the embed gives you trouble.