Paul Manafort trial: Prosecutors detail raid on former Trump campaign manager's luxury condo, lavish spending

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Testimony limited by judge on Manafort's luxuries The prosecution in the Paul Manafort trial focused on personal finances Wednesday, sometimes in painstaking detail. Associated Press Eric Tucker says the judge repeatedly scolded the government's attorneys about relevancy . (Aug. 1)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An FBI counterintelligence agent Wednesday described last year’s early morning raid at the home of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort where investigators recovered documents allegedly outlining the routing of millions of dollars from secret foreign bank accounts and falsified loan applications.

The FBI agent was followed to the witness stand in Manafort's trial on 18 counts of tax evasion and bank fraud by custom clothing vendors in Manhattan and Beverly Hills; a Virginia Mercedes-Benz dealer; and a real estate agent who outlined a $1.9 million cash purchase of a house in Arlington, Virginia, for Manafort's daughter.

The lengthy descriptions of Manafort's lavish spending seemed to exasperate U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III, who urged prosecutors to keep things moving, that they had made their point.

After just one and a half days of testimony in the first case brought to trial by special counsel Robert Mueller, Ellis said the case was on pace to conclude well before the three-week estimate. He did not provide a precise timeline.

Matthew Mikuska, an 11-year veteran agent, told a jury he was among several agents who descended on Manafort’s Alexandria condominium shortly after 6 a.m. July 26, 2017, and later entered with a previously provided key when Manafort did not answer the door.

Inside the luxury apartment, agents found Manafort waiting by the door and a tranche of documents that allegedly showed a series of wire transfers to a home improvement company and other contractors for extensive upgrades on Manafort’s homes in Florida and New York.

Documents depicting transactions related to a home in Brooklyn totaled $3 million.

Prosecutors alleged that Manafort stashed tens of millions of dollars from his political consulting work in Ukraine in secret foreign accounts, which he tapped to support an extravagant lifestyle in the USA.

All of the money, the witnesses told a jury of six men and six women, flowed from the offshore accounts, most of them in Cyprus controlled by Manafort.

He also is accused of filing fraudulent loan applications, seeking millions more to secure his far-flung holdings.

Manafort arrives in court as trial set to begin The trial of Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on tax evasion and bank fraud charges got underway at a courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia on Tuesday. (July 31)

The trial does not deal directly with Manafort's role in Donald Trump's presidential campaign but on Manafort's business dealings, including transactions that occurred while he worked for Trump.

Earlier Wednesday, federal prosecutors dug into Manafort’s lucrative Ukrainian political operation, the primary source of about $75 million that flowed through an alleged 30 foreign accounts, most of them in Cyprus.

Daniel Rabin, a prominent U.S. media consultant, described an eight-year association with Manafort in Ukraine that involved about a half-dozen Americans.

Much of the work focused on the election in 2010 of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who sought refuge in Russia after losing power.

Outlining his extensive work, Rabin recounted about 40 trips to Ukraine from 2006 to 2014 when he helped make 50 commercials to support the Yanukovych campaign.

As Manafort looked on from a few feet away, Rabin described his former boss as someone “who demanded a lot of the people who worked for him.”

“He was thorough; he was strict,” Rabin said, adding that he was paid more than $100,000 for his work.

Asked by prosecutors how he was paid, Rabin referred to wire transfers and checks.

“Did you talk with Mr. Manafort about how he was paid,” prosecutor Greg Andres asked.

“I never did,” Rabin replied.

Prosecutor Uzo Asonye caused a brief stir Wednesday when he suggested that the government may not call its star witness and former Manafort business partner, Rick Gates.

Gates, who pleaded guilty this year to conspiracy and lying to the FBI and has cooperated with investigators ever since, headlines the list of about 35 prosecution witnesses.

“That’s news to me!” Judge Ellis said, noting an exodus of reporters from the courtroom to update their dispatches.

Asonye quickly backtracked, saying he did not mean to imply that Gates would not be called. Rather, he said, the government was continually evaluating its case.

Ellis has continued to be a force from the bench, repeatedly urging prosecutors to move the case along.

Before Wednesday’s court session, he instructed prosecutors that he would not allow use of the term “oligarchs.”

The government has used the reference in describing wealthy Ukrainian financiers who allegedly used shell companies to funnel payments to Manafort’s secret foreign accounts.

Ellis said the term was “pejorative,” suggesting that Manafort consorted with “despicable people.”

“Find another term to use,” Ellis ordered.

President Trump weighed in on the trial Tuesday morning via Twitter, saying Manafort worked for him "a very short time."

Paul Manafort worked for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other highly prominent and respected political leaders. He worked for me for a very short time. Why didn’t government tell me that he was under investigation. These old charges have nothing to do with Collusion - a Hoax! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018

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