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


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
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."
Investigators are looking at Manafort and his business activities in Cypress as part of the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, the Times reports. The transactions are tangled and it's unclear why the money went from entity to entity, and the Times says it's possible they "were characterized as loans for another purpose, like avoiding taxes that would otherwise be owed on income or equity investments."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Manafort has said that all of the payments he received for the business he conducted in Ukraine were legitimate and made via wire transfers to an American bank, but the Times says the documents show some of the transactions originated with shell companies in the British Virgin Islands and the Seychelles, both tax havens, and went through banking institutions on Cyprus. For more on the Manafort-related debts found on Cyprus, visit The New York Times.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
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.
-
Sen. Bob Menendez charged with federal corruption, bribery
The longtime New Jersey Democrat finds himself in another round of legal peril
By Rafi Schwartz Published
-
Taking steps
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will the US keep aiding Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Republicans give Volodymyr Zelenskyy a 'cold shoulder' in D.C.
By Joel Mathis Published
-
Elon Musk used Starlink, which saved Ukraine, to thwart a Ukrainian attack on Russia's Crimea fleet
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Fitch downgrades US credit rating, citing 'repeated debt-limit political standoffs'
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Bed Bath & Beyond relaunches online following bankruptcy
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
San Francisco's iconic Anchor Brewing is closing after 127 years
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Lawmakers say tax prep companies illegally shared taxpayer data with Meta and Google
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Microsoft wins FTC battle to acquire Activision Blizzard
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Tesla reports record quarter for sales
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
48 states sue telecom company over billions of robocalls
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published