How Trump adviser Manafort revived his career — and business fortunes — in Ukraine
By Tom Hamburger, Dana Priest and Andrew Roth August 18 at 7:26 PM
washingtonpost.com
Paul Manafort, known to his friends as having a pricey lifestyle with tailored suits, choice seats at Yankee Stadium and a house in the Hamptons, appeared to experience some turbulence in 2004.A Florida horse farm he owned with his wife faced the threat of foreclosure, according to property records, and he used his Virginia house as collateral for a quarter-million-dollar loan. After bursting on the Washington scene in the 1970s and 1980s working for the likes of Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, his political consulting career had largely disappeared from view.
In 2005, Manafort’s fortunes seemed to improve.
He signed on as an adviser to a Ukrainian steel magnate, who, according to people who worked there with Manafort, connected him with one of the country’s most powerful politicians, Viktor Yanukovych. Back home, corporations linked to Manafort purchased a unit in Trump Tower for $3.7 million and then two other high-priced apartments in New York, while Manafort and his wife bought a new house in Florida.
This spring, Manafort returned to the U.S. spotlight from the wilderness of Eastern European politics and business to run Republican Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Manafort was considered a steady professional who could stabilize the chaotic operation, while the campaign offered him a chance to reclaim a major role in U.S. politics. Manafort’s reentry sputtered this week as Trump diminished his role, selecting two other strategists to take charge even as Manafort retained his title of chairman.
The campaign shake-up followed reports this week that Manafort’s name had surfaced in an inquiry by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
The agency has been investigating claims that Yanukovych, who won the presidency with Manafort’s help in 2010, and others aligned with his Party of Regions stole up to $100 billion in assets before Yanukovych fled to Russia in 2014.
Investigators said this week that they discovered a “black ledger” showing that $12.7 million had been designated for Manafort between 2007 and 2012 by Yanukovych’s party. The anti-corruption agency published a list Thursday on its Facebook page of the alleged payments, showing 22 installments assigned to Manafort.
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