Will the Manafort Trial Turn Trump Against Ukraine?
On Tuesday, a Federal court convicted Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager of eight out of eighteen charges leveled at him special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. The successful case was the first trial brought by Mueller as part of his wide-ranging mandate to investigate crimes related to collusion and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. It revealed, in addition to Manafort’s criminal activities, his profligacy—buying $15,000 ostrich jackets for instance—a testament to his experience maneuvering in Eastern Europe for more than a decade. It is perhaps no surprise then that in Kyiv, where the corruption of the former government led the country to revolution only a few years ago, Manafort’s prosecution has been savored by many as a long delayed act of justice.
Despite the trial taking place in Virginia, the echoes of Eastern Europe’s political and business culture were clear. The presiding judge had to instruct the prosecution to elide the word “oligarch” so as to not prejudice the jury. The case exposed the offshore banking practices that Manafort had utilized to avoid paying taxes, and crucially, revealed the identities of Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians who funneled the funds to accounts in the Cayman Islands.
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