#ManafortTrial Thread -
On rebuttal, prosecutor Greg Andres used his remaining 15 minutes to argue the special counsel’s case by reminding jurors of a few facts.
On rebuttal, prosecutor Greg Andres used his remaining 15 minutes to argue the special counsel’s case by reminding jurors of a few facts.
The defense wants you to believe this is about Gates but they haven’t explained the dozens of documents Mr. Manafort authored or wrote himself,” Andres said.
Referring to an email from Philip Ayliff to Paul Manafort where Ayliff asked Manafort if he had any foreign bank accounts to disclose ahead of tax preparation, Andres reminded jurors Rick Gates was not anywhere on the “from line, the to line, or the subject line” of the email.
“When Mr. Manafort sent false profit and loss statements to Dennis Raico, there was no reference to Rick Gates. Not in the from line, not in the to line and not in the subject line,” he repeated.
In another email from a Banc of California rep to Manafort, the rep asked Manafort if Gates would be “the quarterback” in the coordination of providing requested financial documents.
“If Gates is the quarterback, then who is the coach? Who is the owner of the team?” Andres said.
“If Gates is the quarterback, then who is the coach? Who is the owner of the team?” Andres said.
Manafort also once asked for help converting a PDF to a Word document so he could alter records, Andres noted.
“How is it Manafort has nothing to do with these accounts but he is the one who provided the documents?” Andres said.
“How is it Manafort has nothing to do with these accounts but he is the one who provided the documents?” Andres said.
Gates “stole money” from Manafort, of that there is no question, Andres said, but for the simple fact that Gates took the money proves Manafort had accounts outside the United States in Cyprus and that he didn’t report the income for those accounts.
“And you don’t need to be an underwriter to know that false statements about mortgages are important and relevant to bankers… the defense is asking you to ignore your common sense,” he said.
A chart that defense attorney Richard Westling provided establishing standards around the requirements of reasonable doubt should also be ignored, Andres said, and instead jurors should only consider instruction about reasonable doubt from Judge Ellis himself.
The chart provided by defense, he said, was as “worth as much as those profit and loss sheets Mr. Manafort showed to the bank [to obtain his loans].”
