President Trump tweeted admiration for Paul Manafort Wednesday, the morning after a jury found his former campaign chairman guilty on eight federal charges of bank and tax fraud.
Meanwhile, authorities in Ukraine have launched an investigation into whether former state officials paid Manafort for political consulting work, which is illegal.
Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty:
[Prosecutor-general] Yuriy Lutsenko told journalists in Kyiv on August 21 that Ukraine's State Fiscal Service opened criminal proceedings against ex-officials who served during Viktor Yanukovych's presidency and were suspected of paying Manafort for his work for Yanukovych and his Party of Regions.
Under Ukrainian law, state officials do not have the right to engage in business, Lutsenko said.
Lutsenko did not name any of the suspects, but at least six Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians, including four who held public office during Yanukovych's term, are alleged to have paid a total of $65.9 million to Manafort for consulting work, according to documents released by a U.S. court.
Three other cases related to Manafort's professional activities in Ukraine are currently being investigated by the country's Prosecutor General's Office. Manafort himself is not facing any charges in Ukraine.
Manafort's U.S. trial in general, and Rick Gates' testimony in particular, are the impetus for the new Ukrainian investigation.
"There has been testimony that Manafort received funds for his consulting services for disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions from specific politicians of Ukraine," Lutsenko said, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Gates has testified in court that those who transferred millions of dollars to a Manafort account in Cyprus included Yanukovych's former chief of staff, Serhiy Lyovochkin; ex-Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov; former National Security Council Secretary Andriy Klyuyev; and lawmaker Serhiy Tihipko.
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"Therefore, we opened a criminal case into possible violations of these state officials at that time," Lutsenko said, adding that the State Fiscal Service "will obviously work with those jurisdictions in the territory of which there are mainly offshore companies mentioned during Manafort's trial."
Lutsenko conceded that the investigation will be a slog but said investigators would see it through.
In addition to his well-known work in Ukraine, Paul Manafort and his Kiev-based protégé Konstantin Kilimnik also promoted Russian interests in Kyrgyzstan with funding from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in 2005, according to a report by "new investigative media outlet" The Project as reported by The Guardian.
“I heard about Kyrgyzstan – they went there to strengthen Russia’s position,” a former member of Manafort’s team from Ukraine said in the article, which was obtained by the Guardian before its release. A colleague of Kilimnik confirmed to Project that the two men worked there.
Kilimnik worked in the country for the then new president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who had come to power following an uprising dubbed the Tulip revolution. It would mark the second time Manafort appeared in a post-Soviet country shortly after a “coloured revolution”, as the uprisings sparked by contested elections which Moscow has blamed on malign US influence are known.
While Manafort’s work in the country has not previously been reported, leaked documents had indicated he later wired money that he received from a Ukrainian political party to offshore accounts he held in Kyrgyzstan.
Back in the U.S., Manafort still faces a second trial September 17th in Washington, DC on charges of money laundering and failure to register as a foreign agent.
Judge Ellis is keeping the identity of Manafort's Virginia jury secret for security reasons, but CNN was able to offer a little color on the men and women who found the president's former campaign chairman guilty Tuesday.
Paul Manafort's jurors include teachers, contractors, engineers, an accountant, and one person who works for the Supreme Court, according to a list provided by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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With the trial over, each juror can make a personal decision on whether they want to speak to the media.
The list confirms the expectation that the Virginia-based federal jury pool is largely made of educated professionals who have some ties to the federal government, and even the court system.
The intersections some of the jurors have with the accounting profession and general contracting work could have played into their deliberations as well, since both accountants and general contractors testified against Manafort over 12 trial days.
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In addition to the person who works for the Supreme Court, one juror listed himself as a government contractor ...
Two female jurors are married to people with connections to the US Air Force.
The jury consisted of 12 jurors and four alternates. The 12 jurors are split equally in gender. The court identified nine jurors as white and three as Asian.
The oldest juror among the 16 is 68 years old, one year shy of Manafort, and the youngest, ... an alternate, is 23 years old, according to the court.
All but three of the 16 jurors are married, and all of the married jurors have at least one child.
We are also getting a look at the notes the jury sent the judge during trial.
While Ellis read the jury notes during the trial in the courtroom in Alexandria, Va., the writings provide a firsthand look at deliberations among the jurors, who debated for four days before convicting Manafort on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.
One note from last Thursday asked the judge for a refresher on filing requirements for a foreign account, as well as the definition of "shelf company" and "reasonable doubt."
In another note the following day, jurors informed the judge that they planned to wrap up for the day by 5 p.m. because one juror had somewhere to be that evening.
The jury sent two more notes on Tuesday, the day it reached a verdict. The first note said the group “cannot come to a consensus on a single count," after which Ellis instructed jurors to keep working.
A second note indicated they had come to a final decision.
Ukraine Launches Probe Into Suspected Business Dealings Between Ex-Officials, Manafort (RFERL)
Paul Manafort went to Kyrgyzstan to 'strengthen Russia's position' (The Guardian)
Who was on Paul Manafort's jury of his peers? (CNN)
Jury notes from Manafort trial released (The Hill)