Former Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort Faces 12 Federal Charges
Updated at 4:39 p.m. ET
Paul Manafort, the veteran GOP operative who once chaired Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for a variety of financial and lobbying crimes. The charges, lodged against Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates, arose from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
The indictment, which was unsealed on Monday, contains 12 counts, including conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading statements under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.
Both men pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C. The indictments represent the first cases to emerge from Mueller’s apparently wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, including whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to influence the outcome. Reports on Friday indicated that the first charges were expected on Monday.
In addition, the special counsel’s office announced a plea agreement with George Papadopoulos, a foreign-policy adviser to the Trump campaign, in which he acknowledged making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russians.
The indictment alleges an elaborate scheme, perpetrated by Manafort and Gates, to hide foreign income from the federal government and to move it into the
