Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business associate Richard Gates were indicted Monday for money laundering, tax evasion and several counts of underlying documentation fraud. Connecting the dots is a bit more difficult as Manafort used at least 31 companies to cover the trail of money coming from Ukraine and possibly Russia as it made its way to U.S. lobbying agencies and his pockets.
Connections: Paul Manafort
As more information becomes available this chart will be updated so check back regularly.
What are the Manafort Connections
Viktor Yanukovich: Fourth President of Ukraine, Viktor served from February 2010 until February 2014 when he was removed from office during the Ukrainian Revolution. Yanukovich is a member of the now-defunct pro-Russia Party of the Regions. Yanukovich is living in exile in Russia and wanted in Ukraine for treason.
It is believed that Manafort was critical in getting Yanukovich elected in 2010 and then in lobbying work for Ukraine, the Party of Regions and perhaps Russia.
European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (the Centre): A Belgian lobbying group that served the interests of Yanukovich and the Party of the Regions. According to the indictment, Manafort told Mercury LLC and Podesta Group to cite The Centre as the source for funding and activities as a way to hide his involvement and the source of the funding.
The Podesta Group: Listed as “company B” in the Manafort/Gates indictment and accordingly functioned as an unregistered foreign agent which is illegal. The firm lobbied for Russian interests such as the repeal of the Magnitsky Act which places sanctions on Vladimir Putin and was paid through Manaforts offshore shell companies in an effort to hide the source of the money.
Mercury LLC: Listed as “company A” in the Manafort/Gates indictment and accordingly function as an unregistered foreign agent which is illegal. The firm lobbied for Russian interests such as the repeal of the Magnitsky Act which places sanctions on Vladimir Putin and was paid through Manaforts offshore shell companies in an effort to hide the source of the money.
Tony Podesta: Had direct communications with Paul Manafort on the pro-Rusian lobbying efforts. After the Manafort indictment made public his involvement, he stepped down from his Democratic party lobbying company, The Podesta Group.
John Podesta: Brother of Tony Podesta and Democrat Party operative. Chairman and Counselor for the Center for American Progress Podesta formerly served as chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, Bill Clinton’s chief-of-staff and Counselor to President Obama.
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