Kevin Downing, Manafort’s defense counsel, spelled out the timeline in a January 2018 court filing.
Now a convicted felon and jailed, Manafort had been an international political consultant and property investor with a taste for fine dining and well-tailored suits. He earned huge sums for his work for the Party of Regions, a pro-Russia group in Ukraine.
Based on suspicious bank transfers, Manafort was summoned July 30, 2014, to the Justice Department, where he met with lawyers and FBI agents. He presented financial documents and identified his overseas banks accounts.
“During the interview, Mr. Manafort provided a detailed explanation of his activities in Ukraine, including his frequent contact with a number of previous U.S. Ambassadors in Kiev and his efforts to further U.S. objectives in Ukraine on their behalf. He further discussed his offshore banking activity in Cyprus,” Mr. Downing said in his court filing.
Manafort associates say he never heard from the agents again — that is, not until Mr. Mueller was appointed special counsel and recruited Andrew Weissmann from Justice’s fraud division.
Next, Manafort was under criminal investigation, with Mr. Weissmann leading the prosecution.
“The Office of the Special Counsel charged Mr. Manafort with the very conduct he voluntarily disclosed to DOJ almost three years prior to the appointment of Mr. Mueller as Special Counsel,” Mr. Downing said in his motion to disqualify Mr. Mueller’s office.
The Washington Times ^ | 12/12/18 | Rowan Scarborough
Paul Manafort thought he was in the clear in the summer of 2014 after meeting with federal prosecutors and FBI agents about his Ukrainian income, bank records and income tax returns.
Michael Cohen was charged so quickly he never got a chance to meet with the Justice Department’s Tax Division to negotiate a non-criminal solution to his tax evasion, a court filing says.
Today, both men stand convicted of tax cheating in indictments brought by special counsel Robert Mueller and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan in 2017-2018.
The two have other similarities.
Manafort and Cohen worked closely with President Trump, as campaign manager and personal attorney, respectively. Both men didn’t come under investigation until the FBI opened its Russia probe in July 2016. A Manafort friend said that if the political consultant hadn’t gone to work for Mr. Trump, he never would have faced charges in a 2014 probe that had gone dormant.
Conservatives see decisions to prosecute them — on tax charges not remotely connected to Russian collusion — as the Justice Department’s and Mr. Mueller’s strong-arm tactics. They wanted to force guilty pleas and then gain cooperation, with a goal of getting evidence against Mr. Trump.
Now a convicted felon and jailed, Manafort had been an international political consultant and property investor with a taste for fine dining and well-tailored suits. He earned huge sums for his work for the Party of Regions, a pro-Russia group in Ukraine.
Based on suspicious bank transfers, Manafort was summoned July 30, 2014, to the Justice Department, where he met with lawyers and FBI agents. He presented financial documents and identified his overseas banks accounts.
“During the interview, Mr. Manafort provided a detailed explanation of his activities in Ukraine, including his frequent contact with a number of previous U.S. Ambassadors in Kiev and his efforts to further U.S. objectives in Ukraine on their behalf. He further discussed his offshore banking activity in Cyprus,” Mr. Downing said in his court filing.
Manafort associates say he never heard from the agents again — that is, not until Mr. Mueller was appointed special counsel and recruited Andrew Weissmann from Justice’s fraud division.
Next, Manafort was under criminal investigation, with Mr. Weissmann leading the prosecution.
“The Office of the Special Counsel charged Mr. Manafort with the very conduct he voluntarily disclosed to DOJ almost three years prior to the appointment of Mr. Mueller as Special Counsel,” Mr. Downing said in his motion to disqualify Mr. Mueller’s office.
The Washington Times ^ | 12/12/18 | Rowan Scarborough
Paul Manafort thought he was in the clear in the summer of 2014 after meeting with federal prosecutors and FBI agents about his Ukrainian income, bank records and income tax returns.
Michael Cohen was charged so quickly he never got a chance to meet with the Justice Department’s Tax Division to negotiate a non-criminal solution to his tax evasion, a court filing says.
Today, both men stand convicted of tax cheating in indictments brought by special counsel Robert Mueller and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan in 2017-2018.
The two have other similarities.
Manafort and Cohen worked closely with President Trump, as campaign manager and personal attorney, respectively. Both men didn’t come under investigation until the FBI opened its Russia probe in July 2016. A Manafort friend said that if the political consultant hadn’t gone to work for Mr. Trump, he never would have faced charges in a 2014 probe that had gone dormant.
Conservatives see decisions to prosecute them — on tax charges not remotely connected to Russian collusion — as the Justice Department’s and Mr. Mueller’s strong-arm tactics. They wanted to force guilty pleas and then gain cooperation, with a goal of getting evidence against Mr. Trump.
