Manafort's bookkeeper testifies she knew nothing about foreign accounts

Heather Washkuhn.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

On Thursday, Paul Manafort's bookkeeper testified that she didn't know anything about foreign bank accounts used by President Trump's former campaign chairman, and said after years of bringing in seven figures, he ran out of money and could barely pay his bills in 2015.

Prosecutors have accused Manafort of hiding millions of dollars from the IRS and lying to get bank loans. Heather Washkuhn, who worked for Manafort for eight years, told the court Manafort was "very detail oriented. He approved every penny of everything we paid." Washkuhn said she put together ledgers for Manafort's finances, and would give those to accountants who would then file his tax returns.

Manafort's company, Davis Manafort Partners, brought in millions every year until 2015; that year, Davis Manafort Partners reported only $338,542 in income, and in 2016, a $1.2 million loss. Prosecutors say between 2010 and 2014, Manafort made $60 million working for the Ukrainian government, hiding millions in foreign accounts so he didn't have to report his earnings to the IRS, and in 2015, Manafort's major client, former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, left for Russia amid protests against the government.

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Election filings state that when Manafort joined the Trump campaign in the middle of 2016, he did not receive any pay, despite losing more than $1 million that year. Washkuhn said she didn't have enough money to pay his bills, and needed more than $1.1 million to cover his credit card debt and expenses. Prosecutors say Manafort schemed to submit falsified documents to banks overstating his firm's 2015 revenue, and when Washkuhn was shown paperwork sent to two banks showing Davis Manafort Partners made $4.5 million in 2015, she said that was "four million more than what was reported on the documents that we created."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.