By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, relished his “extravagant lifestyle” so much that he committed tax evasion and bank fraud to finance it, special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors said Tuesday in opening arguments.
Prosecutors told a jury that Manafort “believed the law did not apply to him – not tax law, not banking law” as he splurged on real estate and swanky clothes, including a $15,000 jacket “made from an ostrich.”
“He got whatever he wanted,” assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye said in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Defense attorneys painted a much different picture, saying Manafort was victimized by his deceptive former partner, Rick Gates, who agreed to cooperative with prosecutors in exchange for leniency. And if Manafort failed to pay the proper amount of taxes, his attorneys say it was inadvertent.
If convicted, Manafort could be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.
Prosecutors said Manafort dodged paying his taxes while he worked as a consultant for a political party in Ukraine and then lied to banks to continue getting loans as his payments stopped.
The trial resumes today.
Follow Ticklethewire.com for daily coverage of the trial.
