ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) – Prosecutors wrapped up their case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Monday afternoon, as the judge agreed to instruct jurors they cannot find Manafort guilty for omissions made by his company because the indictment only names him individually.
That information can be used as evidence, however, to determine Manafort’s intent or “willfulness” to omit information about the entities on his personal tax returns, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III told attorneys after jurors were dismissed from the courtroom.
Judge Ellis will now consider defense attorneys’ motion for acquittal following his decision to allow additional testimony from Paula Liss, a special agent with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Liss testified last week but was questioned again Monday about whether Manafort’s companies reported foreign bank accounts on their tax records from 2011 to 2014.
Following a rapid line of questioning from prosecutor Greg Andres, Liss told jurors the companies had not.
On that note, Andres rested the prosecution’s case.
During a procedural sidebar, defense attorneys argued that the overarching charges brought by Mueller’s team against Manafort were invalid because they lacked “materiality” and failed to show “necessary willfulness.”
Ellis sealed the courtroom before discussing the defense’s motion to acquit, but noted that what was discussed in secret Monday will eventually be revealed.
“When the case is over, the seal will be lifted,” Judge Ellis said.
Defense attorney Kevin Downing requested until Tuesday morning to write the motion for acquittal. Ellis granted the request.
The motion hinges on details that another defense attorney, Thomas Zehnle, said would likely come up during closing arguments.
Zehnle argued during one sidebar that Manafort had no obligation to report foreign bank accounts held by Davis Manafort International LLC since he only owned 50 percent of the company at the time. Manafort’s wife, Kathleen, owned the other half from 2012 to 2014.
The alleged conduct in the government’s indictment spans from 2011 to 2014. Prosecutor Uzo Asonye was quick to point out that Manafort was the sole owner of Davis Manafort International for at least one of those years, in 2011.
Asonye also emphasized that when Manafort filed as a foreign agent in 2017, he also listed himself as 100 percent owner of the company.
Judge Ellis replied that the government “could have indicted the company but you didn’t.”
The penultimate witness called by attorneys for Special Counsel Robert Mueller was James Brennan, who worked as a construction and commercial loan officer at the Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank.
Brennan testified Monday that even though it was evident that he lacked the assets to back them up, two loans for Manafort totaling $16 million were approved at the behest of an executive who was angling for a spot in the Trump administration.
Brennan told jurors that financial statements the bank received from Manafort in August 2016 indicating that he had $4.4 million in income from 2015 were “inconsistent.” The testimony corroborated other witness statements which suggested that Manafort made just under $400,000 in 2015.
Brennan admitted that the “inconsistency” threw up “red flags” for the bank about the borrower’s “character.”
“You would want to know who it is you’re lending to,” Brennan said, and whether the information they provide is reliable.
