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Who’s Who in the Paul Manafort Trial

Who’s Who in the Paul Manafort Trial

(Bloomberg) -- Here are the players to watch in the courtroom as former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort goes to trial in Alexandria, Virginia, for tax- and bank-fraud charges. A jury of six men and six women was selected and sworn in on Tuesday.

THE DEFENDANT

Who’s Who in the Paul Manafort Trial

Paul Manafort: 

  • Longtime GOP strategist and international political consultant
  • Was campaign chairman for Donald Trump
  • Attended 2016 meeting, along with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, with Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer who participants were told had dirt on Hillary Clinton
  • Charged in Washington with money laundering, acting as unregistered agent for Ukraine and obstruction of justice
  • Charged in Virginia with tax and bank fraud

THE JUDGE

Who’s Who in the Paul Manafort Trial

Thomas Selby Ellis III: 

  • Reagan-appointed federal judge with law degrees from Harvard and Oxford
  • Sentenced former U.S. Representative William Jefferson after corruption conviction
  • Sentenced John Walker Lindh, an American who helped the Taliban
  • Known for his biting sense of humor and long personal stories from the bench
  • In one hearing, said Special Counsel Robert Mueller was pursuing Manafort case only to get him to incriminate President Donald Trump

THE PROSECUTORS

Who’s Who in the Paul Manafort Trial

Andrew Weissmann: 

  • Was chief of fraud section of Justice Department’s Criminal Division in May 2017 when he was assigned to special counsel
  • Was FBI general counsel, director of Enron Task Force
  • Was federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, investigating organized crime

Greg Andres: 

  • Was deputy assistant attorney general in Justice Department’s Criminal Division
  • Was federal prosecutor in Brooklyn investigating organized crime

Uzo Asonye: 

  • Assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia
  • Helped obtain 23-year sentence for CEO of Bank of the Commonwealth

Brandon Van Grack: 

  • Attorney in counterintelligence section of Justice Department’s National Security Division, assigned to special counsel
  • Helped obtain a 20-year sentence for first hacker charged in support of a terrorist organization

THE DEFENSE LAWYERS

Who’s Who in the Paul Manafort Trial

Kevin Downing:  

  • Spent 16 years in Justice Department prosecuting tax cases
  • Helped lead U.S. crackdown on offshore tax evasion, including probe of UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank
  • Helped direct tax-shelter prosecution of ex-KPMG executives

Tom Zehnle:  

  • Ex-federal tax prosecutor with three decades of experience in white-collar criminal litigation
  • Was a chief in criminal enforcement section of Justice Department’s Tax Division
  • Worked at Miller & Chevalier, tax firm that represented Manafort

Jay Nanavati: 

  • Ex-federal tax prosecutor

Richard Westling: 

  • Ex-federal prosecutor specializing in health-care compliance

KEY PROSECUTION WITNESS

Who’s Who in the Paul Manafort Trial

Rick Gates: 

  • Was Manafort’s right-hand man in Ukraine
  • Pleaded guilty to conspiring with Manafort to defraud U.S. 
  • Admitted to working as unregistered agent for Ukraine, hiding offshore bank accounts and making false statements to federal investigators
  • Worked on Trump’s presidential campaign as Manafort’s deputy
  • Helped plan Trump’s inauguration

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Joachim at djoachim2@bloomberg.net

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