A search of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s storage locker was legal because a business associate who signed a lease for the unit allowed the FBI inside, prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office said in court filing late Monday night.
Mr. Manafort’s defense counsel have fought to exclude the 2017 FBI searches of his Alexandria, Virginia, condo and a storage locker he rented only a few miles away. Evidence collected from those searches could be used in his September trial on charges of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for his work on behalf of the Ukrainian government. He has maintained his innocence.
Prosecutors working for Mr. Mueller’s team said the May 27 storage locker search is legal because an unnamed employee of Mr. Manafort gave the FBI access to the unit. That business associate had signed a lease for the storage locker, held a key and moved objects into the unit, according to court filings.
It appears from the court filings Mr. Manafort was unaware that the employee allowed the FBI to search the locker.
“The agent understood that the employee current[ly] worked for Manafort, received a salary from one of his affiliated companies and that the ’functions’ the employee performed for ’Manafort and his companies’ included moving files into the storage unit,” prosecutor Andrew Weismann wrote. “Even if those circumstances do not definitively establish the employee’s common authority to consent, they made it reasonable for the agent to believe the employee had sufficient authority ’over the premises’ to give consent.’”
Prosecutors also said that the locker search was legal because the FBI had enough evidence to obtain a warrant during its initial probe.
Mr. Manafort’s attorneys have attacked the locker search arguing that he did not consent to the search and a warrant was overbroad. They have also claimed the warrant did not specify a time limit on the files seized by the FBI.
In Virginia, Mr. Manafort is facing separate but similar charges in Virginia related to his work in the Ukraine. Those charges, also filed by Mr. Mueller’s team, include charges of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to report overseas bank accounts. His trial in that case is scheduled for July.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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