Rick Gates’ credibility got beat up during cross-examination Tuesday, when he sounded evasive and defensive about embezzling from Paul Manafort. Wednesday, prosecutor Greg Andres used his redirect examination to try and buttress his star witness’ credibility.
Welcome to Rabbit Hole.
We wouldn’t know this without him: After defense attorney Kevin Downing dwelled a lot on the fact that Gates had initially lied to the special counsel’s office about his crimes, Andres wanted the jury to know that Gates volunteered to them that he’d ripped off his boss for several hundred thousand dollars and had been truthful ever since his plea agreement.
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Sword of Damocles: Andres also made a point of telling the jury that his office is here to make sure Gates has a strong incentive to remain honest, since he’s toast if he lies now. “Do you have any doubt that the special counsel’s office would rip up your plea agreement if you lied?” Andres asked. “No doubt at all,” Gates replied. Andres then had Gates tell the jury that the sum total of all the charges he could face could earn him anywhere between 100 and 200 years in prison if prosecutors tore up his plea deal.
Manafort’s mystery congressman: Andres teased out what exactly it was that Gates had done to catch the charge in his plea deal about lying to the feds. Specifically, Gates admitted that he had lied to prosecutors during his initial interviews this year about Manafort’s meeting with an unnamed congressman. “Mr. Manafort met with a congressman and discussed a specific issue” is all Gates would say about the issue. No word yet who the congressman is, what they discussed, and, perhaps most important, why Robert Mueller’s team is so interested in it.
More affairs? After Downing questioned Gates on Tuesday about his extramarital affair in London with an unnamed woman, he followed that up Wednesday by asking Gates whether it was true that he’d had three other affairs and lied to the feds about them. The question sent news interns scurrying from the courtroom to news vans outside and provoked a ferocious objection from Andres and a lengthy sidebar. After the extended sidebar with Judge Thomas Ellis, Downing didn’t specifically ask again about affairs but followed up with the question of whether Gates’ “secret life” spanned a period of years. “I’ve made many mistakes over many years. I regret them,” Gates replied.
The jury certainly heard the suggestion. And that may be all that matters.
Secret life, explained: On redirect, Andres gave Gates the opportunity to explain the one affair he’d admitted to on Tuesday and try to mitigate any damage that may have done to his credibility and likability with the jury. Gates said the affair had lasted only five months and took place 10 years ago. When asked whether he discussed it with his wife, Gates said, “I have.”
I’m rubber, you’re glue: Downing spent Tuesday constantly repeating “secret life” at every opportunity to make the phrase—and the unpleasant behavior associated with it—stick in jurors’ heads. But Andres managed to use the term to get in a quick dig at Manafort. On redirect, Andres asked him whether Manafort reported a chunk of foreign money on his income taxes. When Gates said no, Andres quipped, “That was his secret, wasn’t it?
Gates is key: Gates is crucial to the case against Manafort because his testimony most directly ties his old boss to the bank-fraud charges against him. Gates testified that Manafort told him to draw up and submit phony loan-forgiveness paperwork to take a loan off his company’s books and make Manafort seem like a more attractive loan customer. To a lesser extent, he was useful in tying Manafort to a similar scheme carried out in reverse in order to cut his taxes.
The (other) accountant: But even if jurors doubt Gates, the feds have a firewall in the copious bank records, invoices, emails, and testimony showing Manafort hiding roughly $16 million in income from the IRS between 2010 and 2014. That includes the account of Morgan Magiones, a forensic accountant for the FBI who testified that she had sifted through bank records of foreign shell corporations affiliated with Manafort and traced the income as it came in from Ukrainian oligarchs to Manafort’s foreign accounts and then flowed out to U.S. vendors for luxury goods—without ever being reported as income. Time and again, Magiones showed off documents opening accounts from the foreign shell companies that bore Manafort’s signature and had a copy of his passport on file. More important, she read aloud emails Manafort sent to lawyers managing the foreign entities directing them to wire thousands from “my account” to vendors he had told to expect payment in international wire transfers.
Too complex: With the prosecution close to wrapping up its case, we’ve already got a sense of how the defense is trying to explain away the charges. When cross-examining Manafort’s accountants and bookkeepers, defense attorneys repeatedly stressed that tax law is complex, that in the case of one of Manafort’s foreign investments his own tax attorneys consulted a specialist to determine the reporting requirements. They also tried to suggest that the tax paperwork was filed in a hurry to meet deadlines. Translation: Manafort didn’t mean to cheat on his taxes, he was just rushing to get it done.
But you let me skate in 2014: On Wednesday, Downing asked Gates whether they told the FBI about the many foreign bank accounts and shell companies he and Manafort had in Cyprus—the same ones the feds say hid his income. Downing got Gates to say Manafort told him it was fine to tell the FBI about the Cypriot bank accounts back in 2014. Translation: Manafort felt he had no wrongdoing to hide when this issue came up in 2014, so he isn’t hiding any criminal acts now.
The prosecution’s retort: Andres pointed out that the accounts in Cyprus were closed long before the FBI’s interview—the result of an unrelated banking crisis that hit the country in 2013.
It’s not Paul’s signature: Defense attorney Rich Westling asked Magiones to compare the signatures on the foreign shell companies’ account opening documents with the signature on a loan application seized from Manafort’s home when the FBI served him with a search warrant. Magiones isn’t a handwriting expert, but Westling got her to say she saw some differences between the Manafort signature. Translation: Rick did it. Gates had already testified that Manafort occasionally had him sign paperwork for convenience. The implication is that these accounts could be a setup from Gates. Prosecution’s retort: On redirect, Andres got Magiones to note that the money coming out of accounts where the defense alleged faked signatures was funding Manafort’s luxurious lifestyle, making the signatures unlikely candidates for forgery.
Your daily Judge Ellis jokes: Judge Thomas Ellis is keen to see Virginia live up to its reputation as a “rocket docket.” When leaning on the prosecution to pick up the pace, he barked that “Judges are supposed to be patient, but [Congress] made a mistake when they appointed me. I am not patient.”
