Buzzfeed: FBI became interested

The FBI is studying the money transfers of offshore companies related to the ex-head of the election headquarters of Donald Trump Paul Manafort, Buzzfeed reports .

According to the publication, the special services were interested in 13 large transfers in dollars that five companies related to a political strategist were made in 2012-2013. The Global Endeavour Inc., Luccle Consultants Ltd. And three more structures, the names of which are unknown, made transactions totaling more than three million dollars.

The funds passed through American banks. They considered payments suspicious and reported them to the US Treasury. Money to America came from Cyprus and the Caribbean island state of St. Vinadin and Grenadin.

At the same time, it is not known whether Manafort has been charged.

According to Buzzfeed, the first time Manafort attracted the attention of the FBI back in 2012. Then the subject of the investigation was the possible participation of a political strategist in laundering Viktor Yanukovych's corruption money, at that time the President of Ukraine. The unnamed former FBI agent told the publication that the earliest transfers of Manafort, which aroused suspicion among banks, were one by 2004, and there were also multimillion -dollar transactions.

On August 9, the FBI searched the case of Russian interference in the elections in one of the houses of Manafort and seized a large number of documents. The day before the search, Manafort at a meeting with the employees of the Congress Intelligence Committee told them about the meeting of the son of Trump with Russian lawyer Natalya Veselnitskaya in June last year, in which he took part, and also provided his notes made during the meeting.

In March, Associated Press said Manafort worked for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaskuu , promoting the interests of the Kremlin. It was claimed that in June 2005 the political strategist proposed assisting in influencing politics, business and coverage of events in the USA, Europe and post-Soviet countries. The contract acted at least from 2006 to 2009. The annual payment for it was $ 10 million. The agency noted that this fact "contradicts the statements of the Trump administration and Manafort itself, that he never worked in the interests of Russia."

On October 14, NBC Newsannounced citing financial documents compiled in Cyprus and Kayman Islands that Oguster Management Ltd., owned by Deripaska, gave a $ 26 million dollars to Yiakora Ventures LTD, related to Manafort. Documents received by the channel also confirm that the company Deripaska allocated $ 7 million on a loan of $ 7 million with a different structure of Manafort, Loav Advisers Ltd, which was already known. The total known volume of Deripaska transactions with Manafort reaches $ 60 million.

The next day, a representative of Deripaska threatened the political technologist "legal consequences" and accused him of "manipulations with investments." The press secretary of the oligarch assured that Deripaska carried out all business contacts "exclusively in the interests of his business."

Manafort left the post of chief of staff of Trump in August 2016, after The New York Times found out that he was one of the key advice of Viktor Yanukovych , a cursory ex-president of Ukraine. It was claimed that in the so-called barn book the Ukrainian Party of Regions found records of unregistered payments Manafort in 2007-2012 $ 12.7 million in cash. At the same time, the political strategist himself assured that "he had never received a single illegal payment."