The Department of Justice sued former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort on Thursday, seeking to collect nearly $3 million after he allegedly failed to report financial interests in foreign bank accounts in a timely manner.
According to the 13-page court filing, Mr. Manafort did not report his foreign interests for the 2013 and 2014 tax years.
At issue are bank accounts in St. Vincent, Cyprus, the United Kingdom and the Grenadines where Mr. Manafort allegedly put funds he received from consulting work with Ukrainian contacts.
Mr. Manafort went to prison after being convicted in 2018 of tax evasion and tax fraud in Virginia and D.C. cases related to his work prior to joining the Trump campaign. He served briefly as Mr. Trump’s campaign manager in the summer of 2016 before stepping down.
He was sentenced to seven years, but former President Donald Trump pardoned him in December of 2020, a month before leaving office.
The revelation of illegal misconduct was discovered as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign in 2016.
Jeffrey Neiman, the lawyer for Mr. Manafort, said the Justice Department filed the lawsuit this week “for simply failing to file a tax form.”
“Mr. Manafort was aware the government was going to file the suit because he has tried for months to resolve this civil matter,” Mr. Neiman said, according to the Associated Press. “Nonetheless, the government insisted on filing this suit simply to embarrass Mr. Manafort.”
Judge Rodolfo Armando Ruiz II, a Trump appointee for the Southern District of Florida, is overseeing the case.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.