Posted on 08/06/2018 1:45:26 PM PDT by CaptainK
4:21 p.m.
Paul Manafort's longtime deputy has been called to the witness stand to testify against the former Trump campaign chairman.
Rick Gates has been regarded as a crucial government witness ever since he pleaded guilty last year and agreed to cooperate in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Prosecutors will turn to Gates for first-hand support of their accusations that Manafort concealed millions of dollars in foreign income and later lied when he applied for bank loans.
Manafort's defense has sought to blame Gates for any illegal conduct and accused him of embezzling millions of dollars.
Gates and Manafort worked closely together for years. They were the first two people indicted by Mueller's grand jury.
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4 p.m.
Prosecutors have called a witness other than Rick Gates in the financial fraud trial of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
A lawyer for Manafort had said in court Monday afternoon that Gates, who is Manafort's longtime deputy and is regarded as the government's star witness, would be the next witness up.
Instead, prosecutors called a different witness named Paula Liss. Lawyers then met privately with the judge for a bench conference.
Manafort's defense has sought to blame Gates for any illegal conduct and accused him of embezzling millions of dollars.
Prosecutors said last week that they intended to call him to the stand before resting their case this week.
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(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
If you click the link it should be updating as the court day closes.
So the prosecution bluffed?!
Pretended to be calling Gates, got a bench conference where they no doubt offered Manafort a deal?!
Gonna look bad for Mueller if he’s too incompetent to even win a tax fraud case against Manafort.
Gates admits he comitted crimes while working for Cohen.
Speculation on your part, or something brought by the trial experts?
Gates said his responsibilities increased over the years, but he considered himself merely “an employee of the firm,” and he believed Manafort thought of him the same way. He said the two men did not socialize outside of work, though they sometimes met about work at Manafort’s homes.
After addressing the two men’s work, Andres moved to the heart of the case.
“Did you commit crimes with Mr. Manafort?” the prosecutor asked.
“Yes,” Gates responded.
Gates went on to acknowledge his plea agreement, and the parties soon conferred at the judge’s bench to discuss it. As they did so, Gates continued to stare ahead, not looking at Manafort. Manafort took a few notes
Seems WAPO would have a spellcheck:
“Manafort, seated between his lawyers in a dark suit, blue shit and purple tie, stared intently at his former business partner as he spoke.”
Blue what?
Did Cohen go along with him?
While helping him commit crimes, Rick Gates admits he also embezzled from his boss, something Paul Manafort’s defense attorneys have said repeatedly throughout the trial.
Gates said he had authority on some of Manafort’s Cyprus accounts, which were set up by a law firm in that country. “I added money to expense reports and created expense reports” that were not accurate, he said, to pad his salary by “several hundred thousand” dollars.
Dunno... read it on Fox and they didn’t say.
LOl!
Lol.
And who is Rick Gates?
Don't know how it works in Washington, but in Missouri, they don't usually put an employee's name first on the letterhead.
.
Gates was heavily discredited by preceeding witnesses.
He may end up getting charged with new crimes due to testimony of others.
.
>> “Gonna look bad for Mueller if he’s too incompetent to even win a tax fraud case against Manafort.” <<
Like Rosenstein before him?
Rosenstein has previously dismissed all these charges.
.
>> “LOL the best part, Gates admits he embezzled money from Manafort” <<
Which casts much doubt on his reliability and moral character.
Rick Gates, the serial embezzler, teased with 50-70 months reduced to probation, confesses to multiple embezzlements of multiple employers. In what seems to be contradiction to the previous bookkeeper’s testimony that Manafort couldn’t have not known about wonky invoices, Gates admits to submitting wonky invoices Manafort didn’t know about, in order to pad his own bank account.
Manafort, meanwhile is accused of waiting a year to file his 2016 tax return, amid questions of whether a loan is a loan, meaning deferred taxes, or a salary, meaning immediately due taxes. The prosecution claims Manafort made $60M, the prosecution’s witness claims Manafort paid taxes on $30some million.
Also at question for the prosecution pursuing ‘bank fraud’ is the head-shaking legalese of whether a second home that is a rental is a second home for purposes of a home loan (that is not in default).
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