Paul Manafort and Rick Gates are both under house arrest following their indictment and are considered to pose a “risk of flight” based on their charges and connections abroad, special counsel Robert Mueller said in a recent court filing.
Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was indicted along with Gates, his associate, by a federal grand jury on Monday on 12 charges, including conspiracy against the U.S., as part of Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
“The defendants pose a risk of flight based on the serious nature of the charges, their history of deceptive and misleading conduct, the potentially significant sentences the defendants face, the strong evidence of guilt, their significant financial resources, and their foreign connections,” Mueller’s office wrote in a bail memo unsealed Tuesday, NBC News reported.
A new court filing Tuesday revealed Manafort owns three U.S. passports that are issued under separate numbers. Additionally, he has completed 10 passport applications over the past decade, CNN reported.
The filing also revealed extensive traveling by both Manafort and Gates. Manafort has visited Mexico, China, and Ecuador this year and has a separate phone and email accounts registered under a fabricated name. Likewise, both men visited Cyprus often, a reason cited as evidence that the men posed a “risk of flight.”
Manafort also varied how much his assets were worth in financial documents. For instance, during his time as part of the Trump campaign in August 2016, Manafort wrote that his assets were worth $28 million in that application, but then said he had $63 million in another.
Gates “frequently changed bank accounts and opened and closed bank accounts,” the filing says. Additionally, he had some accounts in England and Cyprus.
“Both have had substantial overseas ties, including assets held abroad, significant foreign work connections, and significant travel abroad,” the bail memo said. “Those aspects of the defendants’ history and characteristics evidence a risk of flight.”
Manafort and Gates pleaded not guilty on Monday at a federal courthouse hearing. They are under house arrest, although their attorneys have requested the judge release them.
They will appear in court on Thursday afternoon and face sentences lasting more than 10 years if they are convicted on all counts.
