Paul Manafort trial day 7: Defense goes into Gates' personal life -- live updates
Day 7 of the Paul Manafort trial in Alexandria, Virginia on Wednesday saw the continuation of a blistering cross examination of Manafort's former business associate Rick Gates.
Gates was once again pressed on his personal life by Manafort's defense attorney Kevin Downing, asking Gates if he had told the special counsel's office that he had 4 extramarital affairs, prompting an immediate objection by the prosecution.
After a lengthy conference between lawyers before Judge Ellis, Downing asked Gates only about the time span of his "secret life." Gates replied that "I made many mistakes over many years" before stepping down from the witness stand, completing his testimony in the trial.
Jurors also heard from an FBI forensic accountant who testifed that she found 31 foreign bank accounts tied to Manafort.
-- Reporting by Paula Reid, Clare Hymes, Kristine Guillaume, Bryce Klehm and Parita Desai.
Follow along for live updates of the trial:
FBI accountant details payments from Manafort's offshore accounts
Prosecutor Greg Andres had Magionos walk through a series of charts that she had made in the investigation of Manafort's foreign accounts. The charts detailed Manafort's payments to companies and services in the U.S. ranging from Alan Couture to S. P. & C. Home Improvement to Scott L. Wilson Landscaping and Tree Specialists. The payments were sent via wire transfer from a number of Manafort's offshore accounts, including Leviathan Advisors Ltd., Yiakora Ventures Ltd., and Lucible Consultants Ltd., among others.
In one email referring to a wire transfer Manafort wanted to make to SP&C Home Improvement, Manafort explicitly wrote "could you please make the following 7 wire transfers from my Yiakora account?"
The payments were often in the millions. The grand total of Manafort's payments from his offshore accounts to vendors and for properties came out to $15.5 million over the course of 2010-2014, according to Magiono.
Judge Ellis interrupted the questioning to clarify at one point if Andres was showing all of these charts to prove that Manafort had income he didn't report, not that these transactions themselves are illegal. Andres clarified that the display of evidence was for proving that this was income Manafort did not report.
The aggregate max value of Manafort's offshore accounts was also displayed in a chart during Magiono's testimony in each year from 2010 to 2014; the amounts were in the millions, the highest being $25,704,669.72 in 2012. The prosecution's questioning ended with a discussion of a FARA filing in June 2017 signed by Paul Manafort with the "registrant" as DMP International.
FBI forensic accountant found 31 foreign bank accounts tied to Manafort
FBI forensic accountant Morgan Magionos took the stand as the 17th witness to testify in the trial.
Magionos, who is a CPA and a certified fraud examiner, said she had been assigned to the Manafort investigation to conduct a financial analysis. That analysis included tracing, the practice of following transactions from their origination to their destination. She does this by reviewing bank records and and other financial documents.
She identified Manafort as the person in control of the 31 foreign bank accounts.
The government showed charts she had created as part of the investigation which included the account names, numbers, locations, open dates, closing dates and who was authorized signatories on the accounts.
Magionos also testified that Manafort's passport was used to open many of them in U.S. dollars, euros and British pounds.
A man prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence was also among the beneficial owners of some of the companies. The man, Konstantin Kilimnik, is charged along with Manafort with witness tampering in a separate case. Gates was also listed as an owner of several of the accounts.
Downing questions Gates once again
Downing began questioning Gates about the money he embezzled from Manafort. He then asked about the preparation Gates did with his lawyer and the prosecutor, Andres. Gates said he met with Andres 20 times before the trial.
Downing then reiterated testimony from Gates that he an affair and made a mistake at which point Downing then asked if Gates told the special counsel that he had 4 extramarital affairs which prompted an immediate objection by Andres.
After a lengthy conference between lawyers before Judge Ellis, Downing asked Gates only about the time span of his "secret life." Gates replied that "I made many mistakes over many years" before stepping down from the witness stand, completing his testimony in the trial.
Gates questioned by prosecutors on lying to FBI
The prosecution questioned Gates about the July 2014 FBI interview, after which Gates said Manafort asked Gates to meet with one of the Ukrainian businessman to understand if the entity the businessman to pay Manafort in his offshore accounts was a "clean entity."
Gates was questioned about his guilty plea of lying to the FBI. Gates said he lied to the FBI by making misleading statements about a meeting Manafort had with a United States Congressman about a "specific issue."
Andres also asked about the plea agreement made with the Special Counsel. Through questioning, Gates reiterated that if he breached the agreement and lied on the stand, he could face up to 100 years. Gates also confirmed that if he lied, the special counsel could tear up the plea agreement.
The prosecution also went over Gates' plea agreement and his failure to file an FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Record) for his foreign back account with EVO holdings. The prosecution challenged Downing's question yesterday about what Gates was prepped to say in the trial by Special Counsel. Gates said that in preparation for the trial, "the only answer I was told was to tell the truth."
Gates pressed on FBI interview in cross examination
After Judge Ellis began the trial around 9:45 am, the cross examination of Rick Gates by Manafort's defense lawyer Kevin Downing continued, lasting less than 15 minutes.
During the cross examination, Downing questioned Gates about an FBI interview given by Gates and Manafort in 2014. Gates said the two agreed to be open in the interviews.
Downing also questioned Gates on what he believed Manafort's net worth to be, which was lower than his net worth in reality.
Prosecutor Greg Andres told Judge Ellis the redirect would last less then 30 minutes to which Ellis laughed and replied "alright."
Gates' infidelity put on the record
Manafort attorney Kevin Downing probed Gates about his "secret life," which consisted of an extramarital affair ten years ago and a London flat, among other things. Downing pressed Gates if embezzled funds were used to maintain the apartment.
"As part of your 'secret life,' did you maintain a flat in London?" Downing asked Gates.
Gates testified that that his wife knew about his infidelity as well as his foreign account. Downing pressed him why he was calling it "unauthorized transactions" instead of embezzlement, "it was embezzlement," Gates conceded.
Tuesday's grilling of Gates
CBS News' Paula Reid reports that Gates was "visibly nervous" under relentless questioning by Manafort's defense attorneys, who are hoping the jury will see Manafort as a victim in this case.
Gates testified under oath that he had committed financial crimes including tax evasion and bank fraud at Manafort's direction, even admitting to the jury that it was possible he may have submitted personal expenses to the inaugural committee during the 2016 campaign.
Gates told the defense that he had falsified financial records because Manafort was "upset" about how much money he had owed in taxes. But attorney's for Manafort left the courthouse on Tuesday hailing it a "great day" for their client.