Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been on the FBI’s radar for years — dating back to 2013 when he was doing consulting work for the pro-Russian government of Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych.
Documents filed late Monday by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team show that the FBI interviewed Manafort in March 2013 and July 2014. Past reports have said Manafort first became a target in 2014.
Manafort surrendered to the FBI in October after Mueller convened a grand jury charging him and his business associate Rick Gates with a variety of charges. Those include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts, being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, and false statements.
Prosecutors have also reviewed the 2015 testimony given by Manafort and Gates during a civil lawsuit about a business dispute with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Manafort once worked as a political consultant for Deripaska, but the relationship eventually broke apart after a cable television venture deal went south.
The documents were filed by Mueller’s team late Monday in opposition to a motion by Manafort’s lawyer to suppress the evidence seized during a July 2017 raid on their client.
According to prosecutors, they have searched emails, bank accounts, computers, and other electronic devices.
The documents show that when federal investigators raided Manafort’s home, they were looking for “communication, records, documents and other files” surrounding the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. They were also looking for any communication with “Aras and Amin Agalorov,” a billionaire Russian father-son duo with ties to President Trump stemming from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.
Manafort is under federal indictment in both Washington and Virginia and has pleaded not guilty to both sets of charges. Gates has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with Mueller.
