Paul Manafort Went on an Art and Antiques Buying Spree With His Laundered Money, Feds Say

Special prosecutor Robert Mueller says Manafort dropped tens of thousands of dollars on art in the Sunshine State.

Paul Manafort, advisor to Donald Trump, on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 19, 2016. Photo by Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call.

It seems that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort may have a taste for art—or, at the very least, very lavish interior decorating.

Special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s indictment of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his business partner Richard Gates, released today, indicates that the duo filtered money gained as “unregistered agents of the Government of Ukraine” through a staggering array of US and foreign companies and bank accounts. Then, with the loot, they went shopping.

“In order to use the money in the offshore nominee accounts of the MANAFORT-GATES entities without paying taxes on it, MANAFORT and GATES caused millions of dollars in wire transfers from these accounts to be made for goods, services, and real estate,” the indictment states. “MANAFORT did not pay taxes on this income, which was used to make the purchases.”

The purchases include $31,900 at an art gallery in Florida and a whopping $623,910 at a New York antiques dealer.

All that pales in comparison, however, beside the staggering $1 million spent at a rug dealer in Alexandria, Virginia. Wires were also made for $849,215 to a “Men’s Clothing Store in New York,” $520,440 to a “Clothing Store in Beverly Hills,” and $655,500 to a “Landscaper in the Hamptons.”

Other purchases listed in the indictment include a $62,750 Mercedes-Benz and a $47,000 Range Rover.

Manafort and Gates are alleged to have earned tens of millions of dollars with his work as a consultant, lobbying for pro-Russian Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych and his successors, the Party of Regions. Yanukovych fled to Russia after an uprising against government corruption in 2014.

Both Manafort and Gates have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The indictment of Manafort and Gates, along with Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, has arisen as part of Mueller’s investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.


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