November 14 // October 30, 2017
Proverbs 13:20
They got it right. The President got it wrong.
We don’t know much and we’ve never pretended to. Here’s all we have to say about Paul Manafort, President Trump’s campaign director who was indicted about two weeks ago for his alleged malfeasance regarding his business activities overseas.
First of all, if you’re one of the people in the inner circle of the President, it’s probably never a good idea to have the phrase “money laundering” appear in any sentence that also contains your name. The possible exception to this statement would be something like: “Paul Manafort is the first person we call when we need to know more about how to entrap someone who is involved in money-laundering.” Or maybe this: “No one knows more about how to uncover money-laundering than Paul Manafort.” Or: “If you have any questions about money-laundering, Paul Manafort’s your man.”
Wait. Hold on a second. Maybe we go back to our initial thought here: There is no way to have your name positively connected to something like money-laundering, and expect that you could still keep your job. Well, no way unless you work for the Mob.
Second – What the what? He did what? Believe it or not, we didn’t follow the story all that closely because we were just bored of it. Remember that iconic phrase from The Brady Bunch TV series? “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” We felt like we were living a version of “Russia, Russia, Russia!” Ugh – enough.
In an effort to make sense of this, here’s a recap of the events as best we understand them – and we may be WAY off – but we’re trying:
The headlines we’ve been reading since January tell us that Russia controlled the outcome of the Presidential election that was held in November, 2016. The reason Donald Trump is the President is that the Russians were in charge of the voting and made it so. We’re still not entirely sure HOW this unfolded but that’s where the FBI comes in.
The Office of Special Council at the FBI – headed by Robert Mueller – is investigating Russian interference in U.S. elections and “people close to the Trump campaign” during last year’s election. A federal grand jury indicted Paul Manafort because there is apparently quite a bit of evidence of behavior in Ukraine and Russia that resulted in Manafort earning many, many millions of dollars and banking it offshore, sheltering it in shell companies and otherwise hiding the income, which means he paid not one penny of tax on the funds. And that is illegal. Any way you cut it, no matter who he was working for or against – it’s illegal.
What does this have to do with influencing the election? We’re not sure. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. But Mueller’s office is also investigating “any other crimes or activity indicating crimes” while it digs into the whole election-tampering thing, which is how the money-laundering thing came up.
The Manafort / Gates indictment contains the following charges: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) statements, false statements (TWAN assumes these are general purpose lies, not FARA-related lies), and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Now, certainly charges are not convictions but still. This is a not unsubstantial list of allegations.
Look, we know this is tedious but in the interest of going directly to the source, we’ve read the 31-page indictment. Here’s what we found out about Paul Manafort and co-defendant Richard W. Gates.
Couple more bullet points here and then we’re going to stop….
But those are only the U.S. based laundromats. They also created the following, all based in Cyprus (Cyprus? Sure, why not? that's shouldn't have rung any alarm bells with the government):
This last group were located elsewhere, allegedly also washing load after load of more dirty money:
We’re stopping here. And just so you know, at this point in our timeline and bullet points, we’ve reached page 6 of the 31-page indictment.
But we also found this next bit enlightening. From 2008 to 2014, Manafort and Gates, these bastions of business ethics, spent 12 MILLION DOLLARS with the following “vendors:” (Yes, the list is incomplete; we started feeling nauseous.)
Manafort also spent about $6 million on homes in New York (2) and Virginia.
We’re really going to stop now. Truly sickening.
We just want to understand how this happened. Not so much that the money-laundering took place - or the fact that they could get away with this political malfeasance for a decade or more - those are questions for another day. By "how this happened," TWAN means that if we could ask President Trump just one question, it would be: Of all the advisors on the planet, all the people who presumably have the background, experience, fortitude and political savvy to run a campaign for the highest political office in this country, one that is under the highest scrutiny and held to the highest ethical standards and in fact should be, THIS guy is your best option? Why in the world do you hire someone who spent the last ten or fifteen years “advising” and “consulting” politicians and political parties in Ukraine and Russia, and making millions while doing so…millions he banked offshore and neglected to report and then expect that your political opponents, not to mention the everyday voter, wouldn't have a concern or two about that? (Okay, that’s two questions.)
That’s insanity. There’s no other word for it.
Proverbs 13:20
They got it right. The President got it wrong.
We don’t know much and we’ve never pretended to. Here’s all we have to say about Paul Manafort, President Trump’s campaign director who was indicted about two weeks ago for his alleged malfeasance regarding his business activities overseas.
First of all, if you’re one of the people in the inner circle of the President, it’s probably never a good idea to have the phrase “money laundering” appear in any sentence that also contains your name. The possible exception to this statement would be something like: “Paul Manafort is the first person we call when we need to know more about how to entrap someone who is involved in money-laundering.” Or maybe this: “No one knows more about how to uncover money-laundering than Paul Manafort.” Or: “If you have any questions about money-laundering, Paul Manafort’s your man.”
Wait. Hold on a second. Maybe we go back to our initial thought here: There is no way to have your name positively connected to something like money-laundering, and expect that you could still keep your job. Well, no way unless you work for the Mob.
Second – What the what? He did what? Believe it or not, we didn’t follow the story all that closely because we were just bored of it. Remember that iconic phrase from The Brady Bunch TV series? “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” We felt like we were living a version of “Russia, Russia, Russia!” Ugh – enough.
In an effort to make sense of this, here’s a recap of the events as best we understand them – and we may be WAY off – but we’re trying:
The headlines we’ve been reading since January tell us that Russia controlled the outcome of the Presidential election that was held in November, 2016. The reason Donald Trump is the President is that the Russians were in charge of the voting and made it so. We’re still not entirely sure HOW this unfolded but that’s where the FBI comes in.
The Office of Special Council at the FBI – headed by Robert Mueller – is investigating Russian interference in U.S. elections and “people close to the Trump campaign” during last year’s election. A federal grand jury indicted Paul Manafort because there is apparently quite a bit of evidence of behavior in Ukraine and Russia that resulted in Manafort earning many, many millions of dollars and banking it offshore, sheltering it in shell companies and otherwise hiding the income, which means he paid not one penny of tax on the funds. And that is illegal. Any way you cut it, no matter who he was working for or against – it’s illegal.
What does this have to do with influencing the election? We’re not sure. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. But Mueller’s office is also investigating “any other crimes or activity indicating crimes” while it digs into the whole election-tampering thing, which is how the money-laundering thing came up.
The Manafort / Gates indictment contains the following charges: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) statements, false statements (TWAN assumes these are general purpose lies, not FARA-related lies), and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Now, certainly charges are not convictions but still. This is a not unsubstantial list of allegations.
Look, we know this is tedious but in the interest of going directly to the source, we’ve read the 31-page indictment. Here’s what we found out about Paul Manafort and co-defendant Richard W. Gates.
- For about ten years, they worked as unregistered agents for the government of Ukraine, for the Party of Regions, whose leader, Victor Yanakovych, was president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014, for Yanakovych himself, and for the Opposition Bloc (the party who won after Yanakovich fled to Russia).
- TWAN translation: They worked for the President of Ukraine and his party until he wasn’t President anymore and then they worked for the new Presidential party.
- For their trouble, they earned “tens of millions of dollars,” that they subsequently laundered through “scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts.”
- TWAN translation: They hid all the money from the IRS.
- They hid their work as agents of Ukraine as well, in addition to the money they denied making. Fun fact: This happens to be against the law, too. The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires that agents representing foreign powers in a "political or quasi-political capacity" disclose their relationship with the foreign government and information about related activities and finances. This is to facilitate "evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons." So they didn’t do that. In fact, when asked, they lied about it.
- They spent millions of dollars living lavishly. That may be greedy but it’s not criminal – unless you spend money you laundered and paid no taxes on; millions you’ve earned overseas as an unregistered foreign agent. And according to the indictment, that’s exactly how they did it.
- How much money? The indictment indicates it was more than $75,000,000. For God’s sake! Seventy-five MILLION!!
Couple more bullet points here and then we’re going to stop….
- These guys have homes in New York, Virginia and Florida.
- See if you can follow this timeline and trail of businesses:
- 2005: Manafort and “another partner” – who? the indictment doesn’t specify – created Davis Manafort Partners (DMP) to offer political consulting, with staff in the U.S., Ukraine and Russia.
- 2011: Manafort created DMP International LLC, (DMI) to work for foreign clients, including Ukraine, the Party of Regions and members of the Party of Regions. (Remember them and their leader, Victor Yanakovych?) Why a new company to do the same thing as the old company? Another shelter, no doubt.
- DMI was a partnership with two owners: Mr. and Mrs. Paul Manafort. (The Mrs. is seemingly absent from the indictment. Maybe her day is coming.)
- Their key employee was Richard W. Gates.
- What is the platform of the "Party of Regions" anyway? It’s a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. It hired Manafort – through DMP and then DMI - to work for their candidates in Ukraine.
- Manafort did well for them. Yanakovych was elected in 2010.
- Then he didn't do so well. Yanakovych lost and fled for Russia in 2014.
- Manafort and Gates were very, very good at creating companies. They owned or controlled the following, all based in the United States (and these are all pretty horrible names by the way):
- Bade LLC
- Daisy Manafort, LLC
- Davis Manafort International LLC
- DMP
- Davis Manafort, Inc.
- DMI
- Global Sites LLC
- Jemina LLC
- Jesarrd Investment Corporation
- Jesand Investments Corporation
- John Hannah, LLC
- Jupiter Holdings Management, LLC
- Lilred, LLC
- LOAV Ltd.
- MC Brooklyn Holdings, LLC
- MC Soho Holdings, LLC
- Smythson LLC
But those are only the U.S. based laundromats. They also created the following, all based in Cyprus (Cyprus? Sure, why not? that's shouldn't have rung any alarm bells with the government):
- Actinet Trading Limited
- Black Sea View Limited
- Bletilla Ventures Limited
- Cavanari Investments Limited
- Global Highway Limited
- Leviathan Advisors Limited
- LOAV Advisors Limited
- Lucicle Consultants Limited
- Marziola Holdings Limited
- Olivenia Trading Limited
- Peranova HoldingsLimited
- Sarangon Holdings Limited
This last group were located elsewhere, allegedly also washing load after load of more dirty money:
- Global Endeavour Inc.
- Jeunet Ltd.
- Pompolo Ltd.
We’re stopping here. And just so you know, at this point in our timeline and bullet points, we’ve reached page 6 of the 31-page indictment.
But we also found this next bit enlightening. From 2008 to 2014, Manafort and Gates, these bastions of business ethics, spent 12 MILLION DOLLARS with the following “vendors:” (Yes, the list is incomplete; we started feeling nauseous.)
- Home Improvement Company: $5.4 million
- Home Entertainment Company: $1.3 million
- Antique Carpet Store: $900,000+
- Men’s Clothing Store (NY): $850,000
- Landscaper: $655,000
- Antiques: $623,000 (presumably, not selling them carpets)
- More Clothing, this time in Beverly Hills: $520,000
- Florida contractor: $423,000
- Landscaper (again): $164,000 (Maybe the boxwoods didn’t survive the Long island winter)
- Range Rover payments: $67,000
- Home Entertainment Company (again): $112,000
- Mercedes Benz: $62,000
- Range Rover (again): $47,000
Manafort also spent about $6 million on homes in New York (2) and Virginia.
We’re really going to stop now. Truly sickening.
We just want to understand how this happened. Not so much that the money-laundering took place - or the fact that they could get away with this political malfeasance for a decade or more - those are questions for another day. By "how this happened," TWAN means that if we could ask President Trump just one question, it would be: Of all the advisors on the planet, all the people who presumably have the background, experience, fortitude and political savvy to run a campaign for the highest political office in this country, one that is under the highest scrutiny and held to the highest ethical standards and in fact should be, THIS guy is your best option? Why in the world do you hire someone who spent the last ten or fifteen years “advising” and “consulting” politicians and political parties in Ukraine and Russia, and making millions while doing so…millions he banked offshore and neglected to report and then expect that your political opponents, not to mention the everyday voter, wouldn't have a concern or two about that? (Okay, that’s two questions.)
That’s insanity. There’s no other word for it.