(CN) - The trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort opened Tuesday with prosecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller accusing the one-time, high-flying political consultant with putting "himself and his money above the law" while flouting tax and banking regulations.
"A man in the courtroom believed the law did not apply to him, not the tax laws, not the banking laws," prosecutor Uzo Asonye said. "That man is the defendant, Paul Manafort."
Manafort faces 32 separate charges of fraud and conspiracy related to allegedly hiding tens of millions of dollars in income from consulting work in the Ukraine. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.
"All of these charges boil down to one simple issue -- that Paul Manafort lied, " Asonye said.
Asonye went on to tell the jury that Manafort opened more than 30 overseas accounts in three countries to "receive and hide" the money funneled he used to pay for a lavish lifestyle and such perks as a $21,000 watch and a $15,000 jacket made of ostrich.
The defense team opened its case by first claiming the unusual financial arrrangements Manafort made were done at the behest of his Ukranian employers.
Defense attorney Tom Zehnle said Manafort's failure to file certain forms and make specific declarations were not criminal acts, but simply a matter of his not understanding his obligations.
“Mr. Manafort was not responsible for setting up the Cyprus accounts. The Party of Regions in Ukraine, [one of Manafort’s clients] required him to do this because if he was getting paid, this was the way they required it be done,” Zehnle said.
Funding had to be concealed in this way because of political tensions in the country and Manafort wasn’t “trying to mislead the IRS.”
“The people paying his bills told him to do this. Manafort did not do this,” Zehnle said.
"This is not a case where someone flew to Switzerland and stashed money in an account," he said. “This case is about taxes and trust. It’s about taxes because Mr. Manafort has been charged with supplying false tax returns and because he failed to check a box on his tax returns.”
“It’s about trust because Mr. Manafort consulted his employees to handle his bank and tax documents and trusted them to do what was right,” Zehnle said.
Zehnle, after asking Manafort to stand and proclaiming that he was “honored” to represent his client, told jurors that Manafort “shouldn’t even be here.”
“He didn’t intentionally mislead [the government] about his bank accounts nor was there a conspiracy [to set up fraudulent] loans. Bankers were aware of his assets and they wanted to loan him money,” the attorney said.
Zehnle said his client's innocence would be proven once they heard testimony about his “voluntary” interactions with the FBI in 2014. That was the year he willingly provided financial records to the agency when they questioned him about why some of his money flowed offshore.
“If you ask yourself one thing, ask, how can someone who reports that he earned $27 million in 2014 willfully and intentionally going to mislead the government? We’re here because of Rick Gates and Special Counsel’s arguments rest on that star witnesses’ shoulders, the attorney said.”
Zehnle also tried to shift blame to Manafort's ex-deputy Rick Gates, who cut a plea deal and is cooperating with the government.
