ALEXANDRIA, Va. —Paul Manafort’s lawyers rested their case Tuesday without putting him or any other witnesses on the stand, gambling that federal prosecutors have not convinced the jury that President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman is guilty of tax evasion and bank fraud.
They disclosed their decision after U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III denied a defense motion to dismiss some or all of the 18 criminal charges against Manafort in a case brought by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Such motions are routinely filed but rarely granted.
The prosecution rested its case late Monday after calling about two dozen witnesses and presenting reams of documentary evidence over the last two weeks.
The longtime Republican operative and influential lobbyist has pleaded not guilty to 18 charges connected to his work advising Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, and his political party.
They include five counts of filing false tax returns between 2010 and 2014, four counts of failing to report foreign bank accounts, and nine counts of bank fraud and conspiracies to commit bank fraud.
During the trial, prosecutors have outlined an elaborate scheme, arguing that Manafort used offshore accounts and shell companies to avoid millions in U.S. taxes, sometimes wiring the money to American stores to purchase expensive clothing, cars, antiques and home renovations.
Once Yanukovych was ousted from power in 2014 and Manafort’s lucrative work in Ukraine dried up, prosecutors said he turned to bank fraud to finance his extravagant lifestyle, lying on applications for bank loans and mortgages on multiple homes.
Some of the alleged crimes overlapped with Manafort’s five months working for the Trump campaign in 2016, prosecutors said. None of the evidence suggested that Manafort had conspired with Russia during the campaign, the primary focus of the Mueller investigation.
Manafort’s lawyers challenged the special counsel’s case while cross-examining prosecution witnesses, particularly Richard Gates, Manafort’s former deputy at his consulting firm and on the Trump campaign.
Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to investigators in February, and he agreed to testify as long as prosecutors didn’t oppose his lawyer’s request for probation when he’s eventually sentenced.
He testified that Manafort often asked him to present false information to accountants and banks to help illegally reduce his tax bill or obtain loans through fraud.
But defense lawyers questioned Gates’ credibility, pointing to his admission that he initially lied to the special counsel, embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort’s company, and had at least one extramarital affair. They also suggested he had stolen from Trump’s inaugural committee.
One of prosecutors’ final witnesses was James Brennan, a vice president at the Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank.
He testified that Manafort’s finances appeared to be on shaky ground in 2016 when he was applying for millions in loans, but Chief Executive Stephen Calk pushed it through.
“It closed because Mr. Calk wanted it to close,” Brennan said.
Previous testimony indicated that Calk wanted a senior position on the Trump campaign that year —he joined an economic advisory panel —and Manafort later pushed for him as a potential Army secretary. Calk did not end up joining the administration.
Even if Manafort is acquitted in federal court in Alexandria, Va., he faces a second federal trial in Washington, D.C., in mid-September. In that case, he has pleaded not guilty to money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent while lobbying for the government of Ukraine.
