Paul Manafort, associate asked to surrender to federal authorities

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 30 October 2017

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office reportedly served the first indictment in connection to the Russian election meddling investigation on Monday against President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Manafort's former business associate, Rick Gates. The pair were told to surrender to federal authorities on Monday morning, The New York Times reports, adding that the specific charges "were not immediately clear."

Manafort was under investigation before Mueller was appointed, and Mueller's team absorbed those probes into Manafort's actions in the election, as well as his real estate and financial dealings, including those in Ukraine, where he worked for a Russia-linked political party. Manafort is suspected additionally of money laundering, violating tax laws, and improperly disclosing his foreign lobbying.

Wired writes that Mueller's approach to the investigation will likely follow a historic pattern: "Work on peripheral figures first, encourage them to cooperate with the government against their bosses in exchange for a lighter sentence, and then repeat the process until the circle has closed tightly around the godfather or criminal mastermind. There's no reason to think that this investigation will be any different."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox