Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates are expected in federal court on Thursday afternoon, after pleading not guilty to their 12-count indictments by a grand jury earlier this week.
Manafort and Gates pleaded not guilty to all charges on Monday. A judge set unsecured bond at $10 million for Manafort and $5 million for Gates, meaning that if the two fail to attend their 2 p.m. hearing, the government will demand those funds.
Both Manafort and Gates agreed to home detention and have already turned over their passports.
Manafort and Gates appeared before federal Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson in Washhington D.C. on Monday for their initial court appearance.
The special counsel’s office told Fox News that the counts include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading Foreign Agent Registration (FARA) statements, false statements and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign banks and financial accounts.
According to the indictment, reviewed by Fox News, between at least 2006 and 2015, Manafort and Gates acted as unregistered agents of the Government of Ukraine, the Party of Regions, a Ukrainian political party whose leader Victor Yanukovych was president from 2010 to 2014, and the Opposition Bloc. Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars in income as a result of their work in Ukraine.
The indictment says that Manafort and Gates laundered the money through scores of the United States and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts in order to hide Ukraine payments from U.S. authorities.
Rick Gates was charged with 12-counts by a federal grand jury as part of the special counsel probe.
(AP)
More than $75 million flowed through offshore accounts. Manafort, alone, allegedly laundered more than $18 million which was used by the former Trump campaign chairman to buy property, goods, and services in the U.S. while concealing that income from the U.S. Treasury and the Justice Department.
TRUMP, GOP LAWMAKERS: MANAFORT CHARGES NO RELATION TO CAMPAIGN, ALLEGED ‘COLLUSION’
Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s charges were based on a “novel theory” of a “FARA filing,” noting that the United States government has only used that offense “six times since 1966 and only resulted in one conviction.”
“President Trump was correct. There is no evidence the Trump Campaign colluded with the Russian government,” Downing said on Monday, referencing earlier tweets from the president. “A claim that maintaining offshore accounts to bring all your funds into the United States, as a scheme to conceal from the United States government, is ridiculous.”
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s attorney says there is “no evidence” of collusion with Russia.
(AP)
Glenn Selig, Gates’ spokesman said in a statement Monday that Gates “welcomes the opportunity to confront these charges in court.”
“This fight is just beginning,” Selig said in a statement to Fox News.
Manafort and Gates were the first charges in Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign officials in the 2016 presidential election. Mueller’s team also unsealed a guilty-plea on Monday from a former Trump campaign foreign policy volunteer, George Papadapoulos, for making false statements to the FBI in regards to his relationship with a Russian professor and Russian female national.
Fox News’ Jake Gibson and John Roberts contributed to this report.
