IRS/LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman being tried on federal tax and bank fraud charges, didn’t declare more than $16 million in income to the U.S. Treasury over a five-year span, an IRS revenue agent testified Wednesday [8-8-18]. The IRS revenue agent, Michael Welch, told jurors that a large chunk of the unreported income—nearly $9 million—flowed from Mr. Manafort’s offshore accounts to U.S.-based vendors ranging from landscapers to high-end tailors. About $6.7 million of the offshore money was used to pay for personal real estate in New York and Virginia, according to the agent. None of those payments, either to vendors or for property, was business related, Mr. Welch testified, and should have been reported as income on Mr. Manafort’s tax returns. Mr. Welch also testified that Mr. Manafort failed to tell the Internal Revenue Service he held and controlled foreign bank accounts. Testimony from Mr. Welch, and from an FBI accountant earlier in the day, are critical pieces of the case being presented by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. Mr. Manafort has been indicted on charges of lying on his taxes, hiding offshore accounts and defrauding banks. Most of the charges predate his work in 2016 as chairman for Trump’s presidential campaign, and aren’t directly related to the focus of Mr. Mueller’s investigation: Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaigns.”
-Del Quentin Wilber and Aruna Viswanatha, “IRS Agent Testifies Manafort Failed to Declare More Than $16 Million on Taxes,” The Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2018 8:12 pm