Report: Before joining Trump campaign, Manafort owed millions to pro-Russia interests

Paul Manafort.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Financial records filed in Cyprus last year show that Paul Manafort, President Trump's one-time campaign chairman, was in debt to pro-Russia interests by as much as $17 million prior to joining Trump's campaign in March 2016, The New York Times reports.

The Times says the money looks to have been owed to entities tied to Russian oligarch Oleg V. Deripaska and Ukraine's pro-Russia Party of Regions by shell companies linked to Manafort's work in Ukrainian politics. The newspaper obtained financial statements from 2012 and 2013 that showed the companies were part of a group of more than 12 entities that transferred millions of dollars to each other through loans, payments, and fees. Manafort's spokesman did not deny the existence of the debts, but said the records were "stale and did not purport to reflect any current financial arrangements."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.