Well, in yet another indirect blow for Donald Trump, Cyprus has reportedly turned over Paul Manafort’s bank records to Robert Mueller.
That according to Bloomberg’s Stephanie Baker.
The records, which were apparently received last week, include those of Manafort’s co-defendant Rick Gates and span “at least” 15 accounts.
This comes amid news that Manafort’s attorneys are now challenging the constitutionality of the evidence the FBI seized from his Virginia home during a predawn raid back in July. The court document filed Friday detailing that “plan” is embedded at the end of this post.
For his part, Mueller figures this is going to take about 15 days:
Here’s the quick and dirty (figuratively and literally on the “dirty” part) on the Cyprus connection excerpted from one of the posts we ran earlier this week:
One thing that’s important to note here is that Gates remained on the Trump campaign after Manafort’s ouster last year. “Mr. Gates survived Mr. Manafort’s purge last summer amid allegations that his mentor had taken millions of dollars from Kremlin allies, retaining a central role on Mr. Trump’s campaign and inaugural committee,” a New York Times piece from June reads.
As we noted earlier today, his name can be found on documents tied to companies that Manafort’s firm established in Cyprus in order to receive payments from Eastern European politicians.
Of course Cyprus is a favorite tax shelter for Russian oligarchs which is why a whole lot of people think this is laughably suspicious.
“During the pair’s heady days in Ukraine, it was Mr. Gates who flew to Moscow for meetings with associates of Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch,” The Times documented in the same piece linked above.
Deripaska has close ties to Putin and was denied a U.S. visa on grounds he has connections to organized crime. Gates interacted with the Cypriot law firm that set up the shell companies which were designed to streamline business deals with Deripaska.
Meanwhile…
Someone apparently carved Mueller’s face into a pumpkin and left it in front of Manafort's house. https://t.co/8FMJLe7ppY pic.twitter.com/QEs8z1RZIA
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 3, 2017
This would all be even better if my bit of wishful thinking were true:
Manafort’s indictment, not guilty plea, house arrest and bail restrictions were and are all part of a Manafort / Mueller plea arrangement, i.e., days after the search warrant was executed negotiations commenced that led to a deal which included Manafort wearing a wire and working for the government. Part of the deal includes his being indicted so as to put the seal on the “picture” that he’s at odds with government, would not deal, expecting a parson, while all the while cooperating with Mueller. The deal would include the NY, VA Attorneys General and Manhattan DA, in regard to the felonies related to willful tax evasion, filing false documents, and other felonies that Manafort and the corporations (that he owned and controlled in both states) were criminally responsible for.
Hey!! A man can dream, right?
ssshhh, don’t wake me up…I’m loving the dream!
Mr. Manafort is going to need a parson.
(Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)
LOL I bet he has lost touch with all parsons!
Speaking of spelling…I am very curious. itssolitus is interesting. I suspect a possible misspelling there too. Since this is a financial blog perhaps your solitus should be solidus (gold coin)? Or litas (old foreign silver coin)
Other possibility is lituus (geometry) or some sort of staff used by ancient Roman prophets.
itssointeresting! 🙂