Paul Manafort

Paul Manafort is an American political consultant and a lobbyist. In his career he was responsible for improving the images of various foreign leaders and politicians, including the controversial figures such as the President of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko or Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos. In March 2016 he joined the staff of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. In August of the same year it was revealed that Manafort between 2007 and 2012 received 12.7 million USD from Yanukovych and his Party of Regions. The lobbyist did not declare that income in his tax declaration. As a result, Manafort left Trump’s campaign and a few US federal agencies started the investigation on his connections. On October 30th 2017, Manafort reported himself to the FBI which made 12 allegations against him. The list included: conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, failure to pay taxes, concealing financial data, lobbying in favor of a foreign institution without appropriate registration and also illegal acceptance of money from the Party of Regions and Viktor Yanukovich. After Yanukovych’s escape to Russia in February 2014, Manafort also worked with former representatives of the party. He is also credited with coining the name of the Party of Regions’ successor - the Opposition Bloc. Between 2014 and 2015 Manafort came a couple of times to Ukraine and met with the party’s representatives.