KYIV – Ukrainians long angered by Paul Manafort’s work to bring what they regard as a kleptocratic, pro-Russia administration to power in Kyiv celebrated news of the American political consultant’s indictment on October 30.
Mr. Manafort, who spent months as chairman of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, surrendered to the FBI along with his longtime business partner Rick Gates after days of speculation as to who was targeted in a sealed indictment from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The charges from Mr. Mueller – who was tasked by the U.S. Justice Department with investigating alleged Russian attempts to meddle in the election and possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials – maintain that Mr. Manafort laundered millions of dollars in Ukrainian payments through overseas shell companies and used the money to buy real estate, luxury cars and fancy suits.
Already a seasoned Washington hand, Mr. Manafort was widely credited with masterminding the political comeback in Kyiv of Viktor Yanukovych in 2010, six years after Mr. Yanukovych’s flawed election victory sparked Ukraine’s pro-democracy Orange Revolution.
The indictment is chiefly about Mr. Manafort’s work in Ukraine and does not directly tie him to Moscow or name him as a suspected collaborator in the alleged Russian operation to disrupt the election.
“That’s great news!” Serhiy Leshchenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker who helped expose the notorious “black ledger” that appeared to show $12.7 million in secret cash payments earmarked for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s Party of Regions between 2007 and 2012, told RFE/RL by phone from the Barcelona airport.
Since Mr. Yanukovych fled to Russia in 2014, Ukrainian officials and journalists have accused him and his administration of stealing millions of dollars in public funds, and authorities are currently trying him for allegedly ordering troops to fire on peaceful demonstrators at the height of the 2013-2014 unrest.
“I’m very much satisfied, because Manafort was involved in high-level corruption in Ukraine. He helped one of the most corrupt persons in the world to be elected president,” Mr. Leshchenko said, alluding to Mr. Yanukovych.
Mr. Leshchenko added: “I believe this is money stolen from Ukrainian taxpayers.”
The “black ledger” revelations in August 2016, first reported by The New York Times, led to Mr. Manafort’s resignation from the Trump campaign.
Mr. Mueller’s office said in a statement that Messrs. Manafort and Gates were indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 counts, including “conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.”
If convicted, Mr. Manafort could face decades in U.S. prison.
Specifically, the indictment asserts that between at least 2006 and 2015 – a period that exceeds the “black ledger” dealings – Messrs. Manafort and Gates acted as unregistered agents for Mr. Yanukovych, his government, his Party of Regions, and that party’s successor, known as the Opposition Bloc.
Mr. Yanukovych fled Ukraine with many of his allies in 2014, in the wake of the so-called Euro-Maidan protests – for pro-Western policies and against widespread corruption – that turned violent. Opposition Bloc leaders, many of whom remain in Kyiv, could not immediately be reached for comment on the indictment.
Mr. Manafort’s longtime associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, who told RFE/RL in an exclusive interview in February that during the 2016 election campaign, “I was briefing him on Ukraine,” also did not reply to multiple attempts to reach him for comment.
Mr. Manafort laundered more than $18 million “to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States without paying taxes on that income,” the indictment reads.
Mr. Gates is accused of transferring more than $3 million from offshore accounts.
Fresh Ukraine probe?
The news was welcomed by many in Ukraine, where Mr. Manafort has not been actively pursued, much to the dismay of many Ukrainians, especially anti-corruption campaigners and investigative journalists.
“While American journalists report about the ‘surrender’ of Manafort, Ukrainians openly rejoice,” tweeted Novaya Vremya investigative journalist Kristina Berdynskykh.
“[T]oday is a holiday on the street of Serhiy Leshchenko,” popular Ukrainian blogger Alyona Yakhno wrote on Facebook. “Without any irony. He was the first to start all this.”
It also led some in Ukraine to speculate that Ukrainian authorities would open their own investigation into Mr. Manafort’s dealings there.
But the country’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Nazar Kholodnytsky, who has worked on the “black ledger” investigations and said he was surprised by news of Mr. Manafort’s indictment, told RFE/RL it was too early to say whether Kyiv would open its own probe.
“It’s interesting,” Mr. Kholodnytsky said when told of the U.S. charges against Mr. Manafort, adding that he welcomed the news. He said his office is now studying Mr. Mueller’s indictment.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s administration declined to comment on the indictment. A leading member of Mr. Poroshenko’s ruling party in Parliament, Volodymyr Ariev, told RFE/RL, “I cannot say [Manafort’s indictment] is good or bad. We’ll see.”
If U.S. authorities reach out to Kyiv for assistance in this or other investigations, Mr. Ariev said, “all legal assistance will be provided by the Ukrainian side, no doubt.”
U.S. authorities did get assistance from Mr. Leshchenko, who confirmed that he turned over documents to the FBI in March that allegedly show Mr. Manafort tried to hide $750,000 tied to his work for Mr. Yanukovych.
Ukraine does not appear to have actively pursued Mr. Manafort or his associates here.
Ukrainian prosecutors have wanted to interrogate Mr. Manafort in the case since 2015, and several times requested help from U.S. authorities to do so. But those requests have reportedly gone unanswered.
In September, Mr. Kilimnik, who told RFE/RL he has not been on Mr. Manafort’s payroll since 2014 but has remained in contact with him, seemed to allude to an impending indictment of Mr. Manafort.
“They are tough investigators and probably will get Manafort for some financial crap,” Mr. Kilimnik said of the Mueller investigation via WhatsApp. “With that many years of international clients no one can be 100 percent clean.”
Manafort, Gates plead not guilty
RFE/RL
Paul Manafort and Rick Gates appeared in federal court in Washington and pleaded not guilty to all charges against them after surrendering to authorities earlier on October 30.
A federal judge ordered house arrest for both men and set bond at $10 million for Mr. Manafort and $5 million for Mr. Gates.
Court documents unsealed on October 30 also showed that George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump presidential campaign, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia.
The indictment is the first to stem from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion by associates of Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump and his administration sought to defend themselves from fallout from the indictment and Mr. Papadopoulos’s plea, asserting that the developments were not connected to the campaign and included no evidence of collusion.
“Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a news briefing.
She described Mr. Papadopoulos’s role in the campaign as “extremely limited,” saying he was in a “volunteer position” and “no activity was done in an official capacity.”
The indictment against Messrs. Manafort and Gates said that they “generated tens of millions of dollars in income” from work they did for ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, his government, the Party of Regions and its successor, the Opposition Bloc.
The indictment alleges that “in order to hide Ukraine payments” from U.S. authorities, Messrs. Manafort and Gates “laundered the money through scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships, and bank accounts” from about 2006 through 2016 at the earliest. It said that they also hid their work and revenue as agents of Ukrainian political parties.
Court papers said that Mr. Papadopoulos, through his “false statements and omissions,” had “impeded the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the campaign and the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.”
With reporting by CNN, The New York Times, Reuters, AP and AFP.
Manafort poses ‘risk of flight’
RFE/RL
U.S. court documents state that Paul Manafort poses a “serious risk of flight” based on a history of deceptive conduct, his wealth, connections to “Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs,” and “strong evidence of guilt.”
Mr. Manafort was being held on November 1 under house arrest after being indicted along with associate Rick Gates for conspiring to defraud the United States in over a decade of dealings with political forces in Ukraine.
Prosecutors said Mr. Manafort faces 12 to 15 years in prison if convicted, while Mr. Gates faces 10 to 12 years, although other charges could still be filed.
Prosecutors are seeking to have bail set at $10 million for Mr. Manafort and $5 million for Mr. Gates. A bail hearing was scheduled for November 2 at 2 p.m. local time.
The men have also been ordered to hand over their passports. Prosecutors said in their filing that Mr. Manafort had at least three U.S. passports with differing numbers and had filed 10 passport applications over the past decade.
In attempting to set bail, prosecutors Andrew Weissmann, Greg D. Andres and Kyle R. Freeny said the men’s financial holdings were “difficult to quantify.”
They pointed out that Mr. Manafort reported $42 million in assets in March 2016; $136 million in May 2016; and in August 2016, he put his assets at $28 million and $63 million in separate filings.
Mr. Gates, meanwhile, in loan-related applications set his and his wife’s net worth as $30 million in February 2016, but said it was $2.6 million in a March 2016 application, prosecutors said.
They also cited Mr. Manafort’s extensive foreign travel and the use of phone numbers and e-mail accounts under aliases.
Mr. Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, has denied all allegations against his client, calling the charges “ridiculous.”
Mr. Gates did not immediately comment on the charges, but he has in the past denied any wrongdoing. Prosecutors said he was in the process of retaining counsel.
With reporting by The Washington Post and Reuters.
Copyright 2017, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036; www.rferl.org (for full text of stories on this topic, see https://www.rferl.org/a/manafort-indictment-ukraine-renewed-focus/28824594.html; https://www.rferl.org/a/manafort-gates-bail-hearing-trump-russia-meddling-ukraine/28829630.html; https://www.rferl.org/a/manafort-surrender-u-s-authorities-mueller-trump-ukraine/288 24021.html and https://www.rferl.org/a/us-russia-kremlin-says-not-accused-in-manafort-papadopoulos-indictments/28826196.html).