https://www.yahoo.com/news/manafort-charges-grew-records-seized-no-knock-raid-205539175.html
But according to the indictment, the European Centre was a front group that “was under the ultimate direction of the government of Ukraine, Yanukovych, and the Party of Regions.” The Washington lobbying firms were paid more than $2 million — not by the center but by offshore accounts associated with Manafort and Gates in Cyprus and the Grenadines, the indictment charges.
The indictment suggests that the two lobbying firms had been explicitly informed about the center’s connection to the Yanukovych regime. Gates wrote one of the firms, identified in the indictment only as “Company A,” that it would be “representing the government of Ukraine in [Washngton] D.C.,” the indictment states.
And both firms were told in November 2012 that they needed to prepare an assessment of their past and prospective lobbying efforts so the “president” — an apparent reference to Yanukovych — could be briefed by “Paul” on “what Ukraine has done well and what it can do better as we move into 2013.”
At the direction of Manafort and Gates, both firms then engaged in “extensive” operations that included lobbying multiple members of Congress and their staffs “about Ukraine sanctions, the validity of Ukraine elections, and the propriety of Yanukovych’s imprisoning” of one of his presidential rivals, Yulia Tymoshenko.
After news stories first surfaced about their lobbying work on behalf of the European Centre in the summer of 2016, both firms retroactively filed with the Justice Department as foreign agents for the Ukrainian political party under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
...
But according to the indictment, the European Centre was a front group that “was under the ultimate direction of the government of Ukraine, Yanukovych, and the Party of Regions.” The Washington lobbying firms were paid more than $2 million — not by the center but by offshore accounts associated with Manafort and Gates in Cyprus and the Grenadines, the indictment charges.
The indictment suggests that the two lobbying firms had been explicitly informed about the center’s connection to the Yanukovych regime. Gates wrote one of the firms, identified in the indictment only as “Company A,” that it would be “representing the government of Ukraine in [Washngton] D.C.,” the indictment states.
And both firms were told in November 2012 that they needed to prepare an assessment of their past and prospective lobbying efforts so the “president” — an apparent reference to Yanukovych — could be briefed by “Paul” on “what Ukraine has done well and what it can do better as we move into 2013.”
At the direction of Manafort and Gates, both firms then engaged in “extensive” operations that included lobbying multiple members of Congress and their staffs “about Ukraine sanctions, the validity of Ukraine elections, and the propriety of Yanukovych’s imprisoning” of one of his presidential rivals, Yulia Tymoshenko.
After news stories first surfaced about their lobbying work on behalf of the European Centre in the summer of 2016, both firms retroactively filed with the Justice Department as foreign agents for the Ukrainian political party under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
...
