Prosecutors: Paul Manafort believed
he was above the law
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort orchestrated a multimillion-dollar conspiracy to evade U.S. tax and banking laws, leaving behind a trail of lies as he lived a lavish lifestyle, prosecutors said Tuesday as they laid out their case against the former Trump campaign chairman.
Prosecutor Uzo Asonye told the jury during his opening statement that Manafort considered himself above the law as he funneled tens of millions of dollars through offshore accounts. That “secret income” was used to pay for personal expenses such as a $21,000 watch, a $15,000 jacket made of ostrich and more than $6 million worth of real estate paid for in cash, Asonye said.
“A man in this courtroom believed the law did not apply to him — not tax law, not banking law,” Asonye said as he sketched out the evidence gathered by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team in Manafort’s bank fraud and tax evasion trial.
Manafort’s trial is the first arising from Mueller’s investigation into potential ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. It opened with extraordinary anticipation amid unresolved questions about whether Trump associates coordinated with the Kremlin to tip the election in the president’s favor.
Airliner crashes in northern Mexico; no deaths, 49 injured
MEXICO CITY — An Aeromexico jetliner crashed while taking off during a severe storm in northern Mexico on Tuesday, smacking down in a field nearly intact then catching fire, and officials said it appeared everyone on board escaped the flames.
Durango state Gov. Jose Aispuro initially wrote in his Twitter account that “it is confirmed there were no fatalities in the accident,” but he later said authorities were checking the plane’s burned-out hull to make sure no one had been trapped.
Aispuro said 49 people had been hospitalized. He said some passengers got out under their power, and some even wandered back to the nearby airport of Durango city to seek out relatives.
By wire sources
