Paul Manafort

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Manafort meets President Gerald Ford , 1976
Manafort (center) with Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush , 1982

Paul John Manafort (born April 1, 1949 in New Britain , Connecticut ) is an American lobbyist and political advisor . He has advised internationally controversial clients and became known as Donald Trump's campaign manager in 2016 . Manafort was investigated because of possible collusion with Russian authorities during that election campaign . He was convicted in August 2018 for non-directly related property crimes and reached an out-of-court cooperation with the special investigators before a second court case in September 2018.

Origin, training and structure of a lobby company

Manafort grew up in the structurally majority democratic city ​​of New Britain in the state of Connecticut . His father was Republican mayor there for three terms , who, in addition to his political work, also ran the family building company Manafort Brothers Inc. , which was founded by his father, who immigrated from Italy. Manafort embarked on a career in politics, studying at Georgetown University in Washington, DC , where he received a bachelor's degree in economics and a Juris Doctor in law . After completing his training, he worked for a law firm and his career as a political advisor and lobbyist began. Since the 1970s he has built a dense network of morally questionable connections in the political landscape in Washington and around the world.

In 1976 he and James Baker advised the election campaign of the Republican President Gerald Ford , in 1980 that of Ronald Reagan , and in 1988 Manafort simultaneously managed the election campaigns of three Republicans who were fighting for the nomination as US presidential candidates : George Bush , Bob Dole and Jack Kemp .

After Reagan took office, Manafort founded the lobbying and consulting firm Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly (often also referred to as Black, Manafort ) with Roger Stone and two other partners , which broke with all the conventions of American lobbying.

International clients

Manafort's clients included dictators like Ferdinand Marcos ( Philippines ), Siad Barre ( Somalia ) and Mobutu Sese Seko ( Democratic Republic of the Congo ), the drug-dealing regime in the Bahamas and Nigeria's military ruler Ibrahim Babangida .

In 1992, the journalists 'organization Center for Public Integrity denounced the Manafort Company's activities in a report and in a report entitled "The Torturers' Lobby." The satirical magazine "Spy" named the company the "filthiest lobby company" in the country.

Angola

In 1985, when Manafort was involved in the civil war in Angola , he signed a consultancy contract for $ 600,000 with the little-known anti-communist UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi , who fought against the socialist government. His army committed serious human rights violations, but Manafort stylized Savimbi as a “ freedom fighter ”, created the “Savimbi chic” and arranged for him to visit conservative think tanks in Washington . The US Congress approved hundreds of millions of dollars of covert financial aid to fight the ruling party. Experts believe Manafort's company deliberately extended the war in Angola by years by immediately organizing new arms deliveries as soon as peace negotiations came within reach. The civil war lasted for over a decade and killed hundreds of thousands.

Saudi Arabia

For years Manafort was a lobbyist for Bandar ibn Sultan from the Saud dynasty , who was ambassador to Washington from 1983 to 2005. Manafort was widely considered the most influential foreign agent of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the United States. For example, in 1986 Manafort lobbyed the Reagan administration, the State Department and Congress to approve arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

Soviet successor states

In the 2000s, Manaforts new company sought contacts and business opportunities with oligarchs from post-Soviet countries . The Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska became particularly important, and from 2004 he sought advice from Manafort to shield his finances from the political crisis in Ukraine.

In March 2017, international media reported that Manafort had also worked for Deripaska to advance the interests of Russian President Putin and undermine opposition to Russian policy in the post-Soviet space. In June 2005, Manafort offered in a strategic plan that he would influence politics, business relations, and media coverage in the United States, Europe, and the former Soviet republics to aid the Putin administration. "We now believe that this model can be of great benefit to the Putin government when applied at the correct levels with the appropriate dedication to success," wrote Manafort to Deripaska. The effort will mean a "great service" "that can realign the policy of the Putin government both internally and externally."

Manafort and Deripaska eventually signed a contract worth $ 10 million annually. The documents also show that at least part of Manafort's work in Ukraine was directed by Deripaska and that Manafort wanted to set up an office in Moscow. In strategy papers, Manafort wrote that Deripaska and Putin would benefit from lobbying Western governments so that oligarchs could keep former state-owned assets in Ukraine. He suggested building “long-term relationships” with Western journalists, as well as various measures to improve the recruitment, communication and financial planning of pro-Russian parties in the region. Manafort also offered to expand its work in Eastern Europe to Uzbekistan , Tajikistan and Georgia . There he wants to strengthen the legitimacy of governments that are friendly to Putin and undermine opponents of Russian politics through political campaigns, charitable front organizations and media operations.

After the Orange Revolution gave Donetsk oligarch Rinat Akhmetov Manafort 2005 a consulting contract, and he signed on as a spin doctor for Viktor Yanukovych on. Manafort organized an unexpected comeback for Yanukovych . The fact that Yanukovych was elected president in February 2010 is attributed, among other things, to Manafort's activities. Manafort worked for Yanukovych until the Maidan protests in 2013/2014 . Manafort's activities were investigated by prosecutors in 2014 for embezzling Ukrainian assets after Yanukovych was deposed.

Another customer of Manafort was Dmytro Firtash . In 2008, Manafort had agreed with a former Trump Organization manager to jointly buy the Drake Hotel in New York for up to $ 850 million, with Firtash pledging to invest $ 112 million. According to a lawsuit against Manafort and Firtash, the deal was more about laundering part of the profits that Firtash had skimmed off by brokering natural gas deals between Russia and Ukraine, with Semyon Judkowitsch Mogilevitsch as a silent partner. Eventually the business failed because of the bankruptcy of Firtasch's Nadra Bank.

Donald Trumps campaign manager

During Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, Manafort was his advisor from March 28, 2016 to August 2016. In mid-August 2016, it became known that Manafort had illegally received US $ 12.7 million from Yanukovych's Party of Regions ; two days later, Manafort resigned from his advisory post and was replaced by Steve Bannon .

After the November 8, 2016 election , however, Manafort returned to advise Trump on personnel decisions to fill his administration. Manafort said in March 2017 that he and his staff were still in contact with Trump. Manafort's former business partner in Eastern Europe, Rick Gates , helped organize Trump's inauguration and set up an organization that supports Trump.

Special investigation into the Trump election campaign

Manafort's lobbying activities and his behavior as Donald Trump's campaign manager were investigated during the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special investigation into possible Russia ties of the Trump campaign , which began in the summer of 2016. It was about the question of whether members of this team had collusive with the Russian leadership to the detriment of Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton . A special investigation into influencing the 2016 election campaign in the United States was set up in March 2017 .

In July 2017, a meeting with Russian representatives on June 9, 2016 in Trump Tower , which he had attended with Trump's eldest son Trump Jr. and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner , came into focus . The emails exchanged earlier show that Trump Jr. organized the meeting with a Russian lawyer because she had promised him incriminating material about Hillary Clinton. This was the first time that the closest election campaign team around Trump had contact with Russia with collusive intent. Manafort - like Trump Jr. - had to testify in a secret session before the Judiciary Committee of the US Senate on July 24, 2017 after Chairman Chuck Grassley had summoned them under threat of a subpoena . In July 2017, it was also revealed that Manaforts' mailbox companies, prior to his (unpaid) work for Trump, had approximately $ 17 million in debt to pro-Russian entities from the time he did business in Ukraine.

A spokesman for Manafort announced on August 9, 2017 that his house was searched by the FBI in July. On October 30, 2017, Manafort was charged with conspiracy against the United States and on suspicion of money laundering . The indictment brought before a jury comprises a total of twelve items, including false statements and the hiding of foreign bank accounts. However, the charges are not directly related to the core of Robert Mueller's special investigation into whether there were secret agreements between the Trump camp and the Russian leadership during the 2016 election campaign. Manafort's lawsuit against the United States Department of Justice , FBI Special Counsel Mueller, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for exceeding competence was dismissed in April 2018.

On June 8, 2018, Manafort was also charged with obstruction of justice for attempting to convince witnesses to lie about lobbying activities for the benefit of the former pro-Russian government of Ukraine. On June 15, 2018, bail was denied in court and Manafort was arrested. Special investigator Mueller had previously requested that Manafort be taken into custody for violating his bail conditions.

Conviction for tax evasion and bank fraud

On February 16, 2018, the FBI special investigator's team expanded the charges against Manafort and his associate Rick Gates , including tax evasion and bank fraud. In its advisory activities abroad, Manafort is said to have smuggled up to 75 million US dollars past the US authorities with the help of offshore accounts. He is also charged with lying to banks to get $ 20 million in loans. Gates pleaded guilty on February 23, which put pressure on Manafort.

Manafort's trial on bank fraud, tax evasion and failure to report foreign bank accounts took place on a Virginia jury trial . The start was initially scheduled for July 25, 2018, but was postponed on July 23 at the request of the defense and began on July 31, 2018.

On August 21, 2018, Manafort was found guilty by twelve jurors on eight of 18 counts, including tax evasion and bank fraud. He could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. On March 7, 2019, Manafort was sentenced to 3 years and 11 months in prison.

Discontinued second proceedings and cooperation with the special investigation

Another trial of Manafort in the District of Columbia for conspiracy against the United States and money laundering was due to begin on September 17, 2018 ; it was scheduled to last ten to twelve days.

On September 14, shortly before the scheduled start of the second trial, Manafort reached an agreement with the prosecutors on a deal (“plea bargain”). Manafort pledged to cooperate fully with the special investigators and other investigators and pleaded guilty to two of the seven counts in the upcoming trial and the ten counts in the closed trial where the jury was not unanimous. In return, prosecutors are working to ensure that Manafort is sentenced to no more than ten years in prison for any of the 20 counts on which he has been convicted or pleaded guilty. The remaining charges will be dropped for the time being. Manafort undertook to testify fully and truthfully and to hand over all requested documents. He pledged to deliver approximately $ 46 million in assets to the state.

With this agreement, a possible pardon for Manafort from Trump, over which the media have speculated, becomes unlikely. Although all of the crimes that Manafort has confessed to include before he joined Trump, Manafort's knowledge of Trump's election campaign is seen as potentially dangerous for President Trump himself, especially in the context of the Trump Tower meeting with the Russian lawyer in June 2016. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin commented that Manafort's willingness to testify meant that Trump could now begin to panic. In February 2019, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Manafort had "deliberately made several false statements" to the FBI, the team of FBI special investigator Robert Mueller, and the jury. Mueller is no longer bound by his obligations under the September 2018 agreement.

See also his role in connection with the Hapsburg Group .

Second conviction and release under house arrest

After the conviction of March 7, 2019 for tax evasion, he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy on March 13, 2019 as a result of his false statements before the special investigators, the sentence of the two sentences together amounts to 7.5 years in prison. Regardless of this, New York State brought charges against Manafort in mid-March 2019 for allegedly stealing loans . The New York State indictment was dismissed in December 2019 due to the prohibition of double punishment. In May 2020, Manafort was released from prison and placed under house arrest .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eliza Relman, Natasha Bertrand: Paul Manafort was in the Russian lawyer meeting with Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. - here's what you need to know about him. In: Business Insider , July 14, 2017 (English)
  2. ↑ Steven Mufson, Tim Hamburger: Inside Trump adviser Manafort's world of politics and global financial dealmaking. In: The Washington Post , April 26, 2016; Father Stone: Trump's new right-hand man has history of controversial clients and deals. In: The Guardian , April 27, 2016; Eli Lake: Trump Just Hired His Next Scandal. In: Bloomberg , April 13, 2016.
  3. ^ A b Franklin Foer, Bernhard Schmid (translation): The plot against America. In: Republic , March 10, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b Trump's campaign manager on list of black accounts in Ukraine. In: Zeit Online , August 15, 2016.
  5. ↑ a b c Julia Smirnova, Clemens Wergin: The gloomy Spin Doctor behind Donald Trump. In: Welt Online , May 11, 2016.
  6. ↑ Evan Thomas: The slickest Shop in Town. In: Time , March 3, 1986.
  7. ^ Matt Peterson, How An American Lobbyist Stoked War. In: The Atlantic , February 20, 2018.
  8. ^ New Trump Campaign Manager Was a Foreign Agent for Controversial Saudi Prince. In: The American Thinker , June 23, 2016.
  9. ↑ Tim Mak: Top Trump Aide Paul Manafort Lobbied for Saudis Against Embassy Move To Jerusalem. In: The Daily Beast , April 12, 2016.
  10. ^ A Timeline of Paul Manafort's Career. In: The Atlantic , February 20, 2018.
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g Trump ex-campaign chairman Manafort secretly worked for Russian billionaire to 'benefit Putin government,' files show. In: CNBC News , March 22, 2017.
  12. ^ Jeff Horwitz, Chad Day: AP Exclusive: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government . In: Associated Press , March 22, 2017.
  13. ↑ a b Trump campaign manager Manafort worked in the interests of the Putin government . In: Göttinger Tageblatt , March 22, 2017.
  14. ↑ a b James S. Henry: How Donald Trump Learned to Love Russia. Deals and partnerships from the times of shock therapy , sheets for German and international politics , February 2017.
  15. ↑ Alexander Burns, Maggie Haberman: Donald Trump Hires Paul Manafort to Lead Delegate Effort. In: The New York Times , March 28, 2016.
  16. ^ Andrew E. Kramer, Mike McIntire, Barry Meier: Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump's Campaign Chief. In: The New York Times , August 15, 2016.
  17. ↑ Andreas Ross: Dispute and Ukraine contacts: Trump's election campaign manager resigns. In: FAZ.net , August 19, 2016.
  18. ↑ Kyle Cheney, Darren Samuelson, Josh Dawsey: Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort scheduled to testify in high-stakes hearings next week. In: Politico , July 19, 2017; Miranda Green, Manu Raju: Trump Jr. and Manafort reach deal with Senate panel to avoid public hearing. In: CNN.com , July 22, 2017.
  19. ^ Manafort Was in Debt to Pro-Russia Interests, Cyprus Records Show. In: The New York Times , July 19, 2017.
  20. ↑ FBI ransacked the house of Trump's former campaign leader. In: FAZ.net , August 9, 2017.
  21. ↑ Trump's ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort charged with conspiracy. In: Augsburger Allgemeine , October 30, 2017.
  22. ↑ Erik Larson, David Voreacos: Manafort's Civil Suit Against Justice Department Is Dismissed. In: Bloomberg.com , April 27, 2018.
  23. ↑ Spencer S. Hsu, Ellen Nakashima, Devlin Barrett: Paul Manafort ordered to jail after witness-tampering charges. In: The Washington Post , June 15, 2018.
  24. ↑ Paul Manafort has to go to jail. In: FAZ.net , June 15, 2018.
  25. ^ Indictment , accessed February 23, 2018
  26. ^ Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates pleads guilty to 2 charges , Washington Post, February 23, 2018.
  27. ↑ politico.com July 11, 2018; Mueller releases list of more than 500 pieces of evidence against Manafort. In: The Hill , July 19, 2018.
  28. ^ Morgan Chalfant, Lydia Wheeler: Judge delays Manafort trial until July 31. In: The Hill , July 24, 2018; First trial in Russia affair: In the end, it is about Trump's fate. In: Spiegel Online , July 31, 2018.
  29. ^ "He Can't Corrupt Everything": A Conviction for Paul Manafort, and a Defeat for Trump's Narrative. In: Vanity Fair , August 21, 2018.
  30. ↑ washingtonpost.com March 7, 2019: Paul Manafort sentenced to about 4 years in prison in Virginia case
  31. ↑ Court sentenced Manafort to 47 months in prison. Spiegel Online, March 8, 2019, accessed on the same day.
  32. ↑ Mueller team shortens estimate for length of 2nd Manafort trial. In: Politico , August 24, 2018.
  33. ^ Dan Mangan: Former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort agrees to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller, pleads guilty to conspiracy charges. In: CNBC.com , September 14, 2018; Griffin Connolly: 3 Key Takeaways from Paul Manafort's Plea Deal With Mueller. In: Roll Call , September 14, 2018.
  34. ↑ Jennifer Rubin: Trump can start panicking now: Manafort will cooperate with the special counsel. In: The Washington Post , September 14, 2018.
  35. ↑ FAZ.net February 14, 2019: Trump's former campaign leader lied to special investigators
  36. ↑ politico.com February 13, 2019: Judge rules Manafort lied to Mueller about contacts with Russian
  37. ^ Spencer S. Hsu, Rachel Weiner and Ann E. Marimow: "Paul Manafort sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison for conspiracy and fraud, and charged with mortgage fraud in NY" Washington Post, March 13, 2019
  38. ↑ Shayna Jacobs: Paul Manafort's fraud case in New York was dismissed, blocking local prosecutors' effort to undercut a potential Trump pardon. In: The Washington Post . December 18, 2019, accessed May 13, 2020 .
  39. ↑ Trump's ex-campaign manager: Paul Manafort released from prison under house arrest. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . May 13, 2020, accessed May 13, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Manafort, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Manafort, Paul John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lobbyist and political advisor
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH New Britain , Connecticut , United States