Manafort Accused of Lying to Bankruptcy Court - by His Own Son-In-Law
Paul Manafort — the embattled former campaign chairman to President Donald Trump — conspired along with his business partners to mislead a bankruptcy court with regards to four California real estate deals worth millions of dollars, said USA Today on Wednesday.
Manafort’s estranged son-in-law Jeffrey Yohal said in Sep. 28 court declaration that Manafort and other parties involved in the case “have all conspired to mislead this court…as to their true intentions and motivations.”
Manafort’s daughter Jessica filed for divorce from Yohal in March, in the midst of a family business deal gone sour. Yohal is a real estate developer who has worked in New York and California and the bankruptcy case centers around high-end properties in Los Angeles that Yohal purchased with the intention of “marketing and reselling the properties to luxury buyers,” said USA Today‘s Kevin McCoy and Brad Heath.
Four of the properties are currently in bankruptcy proceedings which are scheduled to convene on Wednesday before Judge Catherine Bauer in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for California’s central district.
Yohal reportedly received a loan of $4.2 million from his wife and her mother Kathleen Manafort.
Paul Manafort has come under intense scrutiny from Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The former campaign chairman’s home was raided in the early morning hours during the last week of July.
In recent weeks, emails between Manafort and Kremlin-associated operative Konstantin Kilimnik in Russia have revealed that Manafort — who worked for Russia-aligned Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych — was deeply in debt to Russian oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska and hoped to leverage his position in the Trump campaign to offset his obligations.
