Less than an hour after it was announced he and one of his associates were indicted on 12 counts as part of Robert Mueller‘s special investigation, Paul Manafort turned himself into federal authorities.
Manafort, alongside his attorney, arrived at an F.B.I. field office in Washington D.C. in a black suburban Monday morning. He was met by dozens of media members, who were outside of the federal facility and captured the moment Manafort walked into federal custody.
Watch a video of the scene below:
Manafort once served as President Donald Trump‘s campaign manager and was indicted by Mueller’s probe along with Rick Gates III, a former business associate. They were indicted on money laundering, tax, foreign lobbying charges and making false federal statements. The special counsel accuses Manafort of laundering over $18 million to purchase various properties and services.
“Manafort used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States without paying taxes on that income,” the federal indictment said.
Gates, on the other hand, is accused of transferring over $3 million from offshore accounts and lying to officials.
“As part of the scheme, Manafort and Gates repeatedly provided false information to financial bookkeepers, tax accountants and legal counsel, among others,” the indictment says.
Manafort and Gates have been charged with 12 counts in total: Conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, four counts of failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts for for four years (2011-2014), three counts of failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts from (2011-2013), being an unregistered agent of foreign principal, making false and misleading FARA statements and making false statements.
Read the full federal indictment by clicking here.
Gates worked as a junior partner of Manafort for years, and his name is on documents linked to companies Manafort’s firm set up to get payments from various politicians and Eastern European businesses people, The New York Times reported.
In July, F.B.I. agents raided his home and confiscated binders of documents and computer files. In September, longtime adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. told The Times that Manafort expected to be indicted.
“I believe his attorneys informed my attorneys of that,” Stone said to the newspaper. “They didn’t seem to know when nor what the charge may be.”
