Manafort's tax fraud accountants

Manafort’s accounting firm agreed to falsify his tax returns because he couldn’t afford his tax bill, according to a witness who testified with a grant of immunity because she feared prosecution.

Cindy Laporta told jurors that Manafort’s right-hand man, Rick Gates, proposed altering the amount of a loan listed on their company’s books in September 2015 so that Manafort would pay less in taxes. Gates said that Manafort needed the change because he couldn’t afford to pay the amount he owed, Laporta said.

“He was trying to reduce income and therefore taxes,” Laporta told jurors in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. “It was inappropriate.”

Laporta, who works at Kositzka Wicks & Co. in Alexandria, said she and another employee at the firm agreed to make the change.

  Bloomberg

I wonder if she named that other employee, and whether that other employee will get to face the fraud and corruption charges since Ms. Laporta was first to make a deal.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III granted Laporta immunity at the request of the special counsel. The judge asked if she was concerned about being prosecuted without immunity, and she said yes. Asked what crime she feared being prosecuted for, she said perjury.

Because she'd be forced to lie to save her skin? What about telling the truth and being prosecuted for tax fraud? I'd say she had serious liability no matter what she did without that immunity. Lucky her. Only, maybe the IRS will be taking a closer look at all that firm's filings now. And if they did it for one client...

Laporta discussed one loan for $1.5 million and another for $900,000, which prosecutors say were income disguised as loans from offshore companies that Manafort controlled. Laporta was asked if she believed what Manafort and Gates said about the loans, and she said no. But she approved the tax returns anyway, she said.

I wonder who else is their client. Looks like they might be helpful in a number of ways:

Manafort pressed his tax accountant to mislead UBS Group AG about whether Manafort occupied or rented out his Trump Tower apartment in New York, the accountant testified.

[...]

“I told them exactly the way it was presented -- that it was a rental,” [Philip] Ayliff said.

As a rental unit, Manafort was able to deduct its costs as a business expense. If it was his residence, he couldn’t do that. Ayliff’s suggested that Manafort wanted the accountant to help mislead the bank.

In April 2015, Manafort’s wife took a $3 million mortgage from UBS against the Trump Tower unit.

[...]

Ayliff, the retired accountant, told jurors that he handled Manafort’s business and personal taxes for two decades and that his client always had a command of his complex returns. Manafort claims that Gates embezzled millions of dollars from his political consulting business.

Ayliff said that although he dealt with both Manafort and Gates, the man in charge was always Manafort. He said he would talk to Gates about Manafort’s tax returns because Manafort had authorized it. But Ayliff was unaware of any deception by Gates, he said.

[...]

Ayliff began his testimony on Thursday, when he said the his clients attest to the accuracy of the tax returns he prepares and that his firm wasn’t responsible for checking the accuracy of information provided by clients.

That may be true, but Ayliff didn't need to check the accuracy. He already knew it was false. 

[Ayliff] told jurors that Manafort had emailed him in January 2015 as he was seeking a mortgage on the unit from UBS. In that email, Manafort said that while UBS believed it was a rental unit, he had never rented it out and he used it with his wife as a residence.

According to that testimony, Manafort flat out admitted that he was lying to the bank. Not to mention, Laporta's agreement to falsify the records.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.