Grand Jury Issues New Charges Against Manafort and Gates, Including Allegations of Laundering $30 Million [UPDATE]

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in conjunction with a Virginia grand jury, just issued a new 32-count indictment against former campaign head Paul Manafort and adviser Rick Gates, two former confidants of President Donald Trump.

CNN has alleged that this indictment shows that Gates may not have yet flipped on the president, despite a report earlier this month that he was close to a plea deal with Mueller.

BREAKING: A grand jury in Virginia has returned a new indictment against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, per new filing from the special counsel's office. Status report: https://t.co/Ho2JqXZ5co Indictment: https://t.co/lMEk8dQHvc pic.twitter.com/Y5aa8QP0x5

— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) February 22, 2018

Some of these allegations are absolutely damning, accusing the pair of laundering more than $30 million.

"MANAFORT, with
the assistance of GATES, laundered more than $30,000,000" https://t.co/cnwRcDIRBs

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) February 22, 2018

The indictment also says that Manafort allegedly refused to pay income tax on that money, saying that he “used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States, without paying taxes on that income.”

Additionally, Gates was accused of using millions of dollars from offshore accounts, allegedly funded with laundered money, “to pay for his personal expenses, including his mortgage, children’s tuition, and interior decorating and refinancing of his Virginia residence.”

The indictment suggests the pair was “flush with Ukraine funds,” with more than $75 million passing through their offshore accounts, with the duo also being accused of making “a series of false and fraudulent
representations to the bank in order to secure the millions of dollars in financing.”

Read through the entire document yourself.

This is an ongoing story.

UPDATED 5:19 p.m. EST 

Gates has fired previous lawyer, Tom Gates, and hired a new one, Barry Pollack, in the wake of these allegations, casting further doubt onto the notion that he may be flipping, as reported by The Daily Beast.

[image via screenshot]

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