Trump-Russia Investigation: Paul Manafort's Offshore Financial Records Obtained By US Treasury Agents

Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s offshore financial information is being looked into by U.S. Treasury Department agents who are investigating him as part of federal anti-corruption probe into his work in Eastern Europe, according to an Associated Press (AP) report published Wednesday.

The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network received information about Manafort’s financial dealings in Cyprus earlier this year through officials from the country, according to an anonymous source familiar with the case who spoke to AP.

Manafort became a person of interest over two years ago for officials investigating theft of Ukranian assets, following the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Based on international wire transfers and public court documents filed in a 2014 legal dispute in the Cayman Islands, AP suggested Manafort was known to route financial transactions through Cyprus.

“AP found that a Manafort-linked company received a $1 million payment in October 2009 from a mysterious firm through the Bank of Cyprus. The $1 million payment left the account the same day — split in two, roughly $500,000 disbursements to accounts with no obvious owner,” AP report said.

In another case from 2014, Manafort was at the center of a nearly $19 million deal with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of Putin who according to U.S. diplomatic cables from 2006 cited by AP, was described as “among the 2-3 oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis” and “a more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin’s trips abroad.” Manafort’s shell companies helped him purchase Ukrainian cable television provider Black Sea Cable. Deripaska later told AP Manafort never explained how the money was subsequently put to use.

Although there is nothing inherently criminal about using shell companies to transfer money, Manafort’s dealings in Cyprus are under suspicion considering the country's history of being a source for money laundering before it joined the EU in 2004.

The latest information comes a day after it was reported that Manafort, Trump's unpaid campaign chairman from March-August 2016, allegedly colluded with Russians to advance their interests and allegedly proposed a political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet countries. It also ties in with an FBI probe and two ongoing congressional investigations exploring the allegations that Russia hacked or interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In response to allegations by the AP in a previous story, Manafort confirmed he worked for Deripaska in various countries but added that his job was being unfairly portrayed, calling the reporting “inappropriate or nefarious” and part of a “smear campaign.”

“I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments,” Manafort said. “My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russian political interests.”