On the final day of the trial, the lead prosecutor, Greg D. Andres, cast Manafort as a bright and highly capable political consultant, steeped in tax law and financial matters and fluent in terms like “write-offs” and “distribution” income
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The evidence against Paul Manafort is “overwhelming,” a prosecutor told jurors during closing arguments in his fraud trial on Wednesday, saying that he hid more than $16 million in income and fraudulently obtained $20 million in bank loans even though, as a trained lawyer, “Mr. Manafort knew the law.”
But in a response that drew prosecutors’ ire, lawyers for Manafort, once President Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, hinted that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, had charged Manafort to pressure him into cooperating with the inquiry into Russian influence over the 2016 presidential race.
On the final day of the trial, the lead prosecutor, Greg D. Andres, cast Manafort as a bright and highly capable political consultant, steeped in tax law and financial matters and fluent in terms like “write-offs” and “distribution” income. “It wasn’t a clerical decision. It wasn’t ‘forgot to check a box,'” Andres said. “When you follow the trail of Mr. Manafort’s finances, it is littered with lies.”
Over 12 days in court, the prosecution called 27 witnesses and offered 388 photographs, emails and other documents as evidence of a scheme by Manafort to finance a life of opulence through sustained and sprawling fraud. But in their closing statement, Manafort’s lawyers implied that the real issue was why he was in the courtroom to begin with.
Only after the special counsel took an interest in him, they argued, did bank executives and accountants begin to raise questions about irregularities in his financial records, tax returns or loan applications. “What would be the motivation?” said Richard Westling, one of Manafort’s lawyers. “I’ll leave you to determine what was behind that.”
After prosecutors protested, Judge T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court in Alexandria instructed the jury to “ignore any argument about the Justice Department’s motive or lack of motive in bringing this prosecution.”
The trial is the first major courtroom test for Mueller’s team. The other Americans charged thus far by the special counsel have all pleaded guilty without going to trial. If he is found guilty, Manafort, 69, could spend the rest of his life behind bars. The most serious of 18 charges against him carry a maximum sentence of 30 years.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.