ALEXANDRIA, Va. ― A prosecutor with Robert Mueller’s special counsel team labeled Paul Manafort a serial liar during closing arguments in the former Trump campaign manager’s trial for tax and bank fraud.
Describing Manafort as a capable, bright and “wildly successful” political consultant, prosecutor Greg Andres on Wednesday told jurors they’d seen “overwhelming” evidence of his guilt, and asked them to convict on all 18 counts.
“Mr. Manafort knew the law, and he violated it anyway,” Andres said.
Over the course of more than 90 minutes, Andres walked jurors through the extensive evidence against Manafort, who prosecutors say controlled 31 overseas bank accounts through which more than $60 million flowed. When the prosecution detailed Manafort’s extravagant spending on luxury items, Andres said, they weren’t condemning him for being rich ― they were showing how he’d use overseas accounts to skirt his tax liabilities.
But Manafort’s income dried up after the party he was working with in Ukraine lost power, and Andres said Manafort subsequently resorted to bank fraud to try to keep up his lifestyle, including by disguising income as loans so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes. When Manafort needed to justify receiving an actual loan from a bank, Andres said, one of his loans “magically becomes income, just like that, poof.”
Manafort’s defense team is expected to call the testimony of former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates into question. Andres told the jury that prosecutors weren’t “asking you to like [Gates],” but he did ask jurors to weigh Gates’ testimony against the evidence prosecutors provided that Manafort tried to skirt taxes and commit bank fraud.
Andres also pointed to evidence that Manafort was well aware of the various financial schemes that were benefiting him and his family. He asked jurors to use their common sense to determine whether it was plausible that Gates, or some unknown person, set up a slew of foreign bank accounts in Manafort’s name, loaded them up with millions of dollars, and used them to pay off Manafort’s personal expenses.
“Does that make any sense at all?” Andres asked jurors. “We should all be so lucky.”
Manafort “didn’t choose a Boy Scout” to commit crimes with, Andres said. And while the defense team might say that jurors shouldn’t trust Gates because he stole from Manafort and had his “hand in the cookie jar,” Andres said the cookie jar in question is actually a “huge dumpster” of hidden overseas cash that Manafort conspired to keep secret.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the star witness in this case is the documents,” Andres said. Manafort, he said, is “not above the law.”
This story has been updated throughout.
Ryan Reilly is HuffPost’s senior justice reporter covering the Justice Department, federal law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs. Have a tip? Reach him at ryan.reilly@huffpost.com or on Signal at 202-527-9261.