October 27, 2017, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were Indicted. Read It Here.
GLOBAL ENDEAVOUR WIRE TRANSFERS
These 13 Wire Transfers Are A Focus Of The FBI Probe Into Paul Manafort BuzzFeed Jason Leopold Anthony Cormier “BuzzFeed News has learned specific details about 13 of the wire transfers, all of which took place between 2012 and 2013. At least four of the transfers originated with Manafort’s company Global Endeavour, a political consulting firm based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Global Endeavour was hired by Yanukovych to consult and lobby on his behalf. Ousted after the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution, Yanukovych lives in exile in Russia and is accused of treason by Ukrainian authorities; the country’s general prosecutor said Yanukovych’s embezzlement of state funds was so egregious it resembled a “mafia structure.”
Wire transfers flagged as suspicious show that during the waning months of Yanukovych’s presidency, Global Endeavour sent more than $750,000 out of Ukraine. None of these transactions have been previously reported.
In November and December of 2013, for example, the company transferred almost $53,000 to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Kiev-based political operator. It’s not known what the money was for. A federal law enforcement official described Kilimnik as a linguist trained by the Russian army and about whom the US has gathered intelligence. He reportedly attended a military school some experts believe to be a training ground for Russian spies.
Kilimnik worked with Manafort for more than a decade, and the Washington Post reported that Manafort emailed his old partner in 2016 to offer “private briefings” to a Russian billionaire close to President Vladimir Putin.
In September 2013, Global Endeavour transferred $500,000 that would ultimately end up back in Manafort’s control. First it went to a hedge fund in Florida, Aegis Holdings LLC, that is controlled by Marc Baldinger, a broker who in 2014 was suspended for 18 months for engaging in deals his financial institution didn’t know about. Baldinger’s brother, Bruce, is a real estate attorney who has worked with Manafort for about a decade.
The day after Aegis Holdings received the $500,000, it transferred the same amount to a securities clearinghouse, which ultimately sent the funds to Lilred LLC in Morristown, New Jersey. Lilred is run out of a brick office park. Business records show its manager is Manafort; its registered agent is Bruce Baldinger. Marc Baldinger told bank officials the money was a regular investment contribution from Manafort.
Also in late 2013, Global Endeavour sent out $200,000 to a remodeling company in Long Island, SP&C Home Improvement. Stephen Jacobsen, a representative, told bank officials the funds were an advance on a remodeling project.
That project, at 377 Union Street in Brooklyn, has been the subject of media reports. The brownstone in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood first belonged to a company controlled by Manafort and his son-in-law, Jeffrey Yohai. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism is investigating Yohai and requested from FinCEN in June any suspicious financial transactions in which he is named, according to a copy of a letter reviewed by BuzzFeed News. He declined to comment.
In addition to transactions involving Global Endeavour, there were wire transfers, never before reported, flagged as suspicious involving other companies. There were three by the Cyprus-based Lucicle Consultants — which has “strong ties” to Manafort, according to federal law enforcement sources — in March and April 2012. The company transferred a total of about $2.5 million, some of it directly to accounts controlled by Manafort. No contact information for Lucicle or any of its officers could be found.”
LOANS AND MT YOHAI LLC BANKRUPTCY DECEMBER 21, 2016
Prosecutors Seek Plea Deal With Manafort’s Former Son-in Law Wall Street Journal Jeffrey Yohai, who worked with his father-in-law on real-estate deals, hasn’t been charged with any crime By Michael Rothfeld and Katy Stech Ferek
Jeffrey Yohai married to Paul Manafort’s daughter Jessica, is under criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office in LA.
Andrea is Manafort’s other daughter, and wife is Kathleen.
“Jeffrey Yohai made the allegation on Sept. 28 in a case that centers on four troubled California real estate investments that collectively total millions of dollars. Manafort’s daughter, Jessica, filed for divorce from Yohai in March.
Yohai’s legal declaration alleged that Manafort and other parties in the cases “have all conspired to mislead this court … as to their true intentions and motivations.
The arguments focus on bankruptcy proceedings that feature a thicket of limited liability companies involving Yohai and Manafort. In 2016, Genesis Capital, a large private money lender in California, loaned Yohai $4.4 million. The loans were secured by a Brooklyn, N.Y. townhouse owned by Manafort, court records show.
The loans enabled Yohai to move forward on his redevelopment plans. He is the manager for four limited liability companies, each with a single-family Los Angeles home as its principal asset, bankruptcy court records show.
Apparently unable to resell the properties quickly, Yohai filed corporate bankruptcy petitions in December for the companies.”
Along with an ownership role with the proposed new buyers, Manafort has a claim totaling as much as $2.7 million as a creditor of the company that currently owns one of the properties, bankruptcy court records show. He agreed to waive his lien if the sale is finalized, the records show.”
While Mr. Yohai borrowed millions from banks and obtained money from investors, he also intimated he had access to large amounts of cash. In January 2016, he offered $7 million in cash for a mansion whose owner, a Russian businessman, was in debt to several associates from Russia who had liens on the house. Mr. Yohai put $160,000 down to secure the mansion deal, but by June 2016 had backed out of it and forfeited the deposit.
A month later he appeared on a reality television show, “Million Dollar Listing,’’ and proposed buying three apartment units in New York City for $15 million in cash; the real estate agent said on the show that he had “seen proof of funds.” When a friend texted Andrea Manafort, asking if her sister and Mr. Yohai really had access to that kind of money, Ms. Manafort replied, “Of course they don’t.”
“Her hubby is running a Ponzi scheme,” Ms. Manafort wrote. “I’m sure of it.”
That is what Mr. Yohai was accused of in a lawsuit filed in November by an investor in Mr. Yohai’s real estate business. The suit asserted that Mr. Yohai employed a “web of dozens of limited liability companies” to repay early investors with money from new investors to create the illusion of a “quick and large return on their investments.”
Feds Subpoena Records for $3.5M Mystery Mortgage on Manafort’s Home NBC News “Federal investigators have subpoenaed records related to a $3.5 million mortgage that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort took out on his Hamptons home just after leaving the campaign, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The mortgage document that explains how Manafort would pay back the loan was never filed with Suffolk County, New York — and Manafort’s company never paid up to $36,000 in taxes that would be due on the loan. In addition, despite telling NBC News previously that all his real estate transactions are transparent and include his name and signature, Manafort’s name and signature do not appear on any of the loan documents that are publicly available. A Manafort spokesperson said the $3.5 million loan, which was taken out through a shell company, was repaid in December, but also said that paperwork showing the repayment was not filed until he was asked about the loan by NBC News.”
Former Trump Adviser Paul Manafort’s Bank Records Sought in Probe Wall Street Journal Federal investigators looking into Russian election interference requested information; New York investigators also examining his real-estate transactions By Michael Rothfeld, Mark Maremont and Rebecca Davis O’Brien
Anti-corruption officials in Ukraine say $12.7 million in “off the books” cash payments were earmarked for him in a handwritten ledger kept by the political party of the deposed strongman Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Last month, a Ukrainian lawmaker released documents that appeared to corroborate one of the ledger entries, and on Wednesday The Associated Press reported confirmation of another payment. The two payments in 2007 and 2009, totaling $1.2 million, were routed through shell companies in Belize to a bank account in Virginia belonging to Mr. Manafort’s consulting firm.”
April 6, 2006, Paul Manafort registered “John Hannah LLC”
On September 12, 2006, transferred November 2, 2006, Manafort purchased Trump Tower 721 Fifth Ave. unit 43-G for $3,675,000 CASH under the company John Hannah LLC, and created a loan from Oleg Deripaska for $10 million. NYC Tax Records, pages 7&9 Deed & Proof of Sale
On April 7, 2015, Manafort and his wife Kathleen mortgaged the Trump Tower unit 43-G from Flint, MI, lender Mers, for $3million. NYC Registration of Mortgage 2015 NYC Deed
