Mueller appoints 35 witnesses for Manafort's first trial

Many bankers, accountants and luxury merchants

Prosecutors plan to make their case of tax fraud and banking Against Paul Manafort, The Appellant Calls A Series Of Accountants, Bankers And Luxury Goods Vendors Before A Jury To Demonstrate That Manafort's extravagant lifestyle was funded by offshore accounts that he had never divulged or paid tax, a new list of witnesses made public on Friday. 19659007] In accordance with the order of a judge, the team of the special advocate Robert Mueller submits a list of 35 witnesses that the pros in We should urge the long-standing lobbying and trial of the political advisor, which will begin next week

. One expects the deep plunge into the expensive tastes of Manafort to include the testimony of a New York shop owner where he would have spent more than $ 850,000 in high-end costumes , an employee of a car dealership where Manafort's wife bought a $ 130,000 Mercedes, owner of a Florida theater and season ticket sales manager for the New York Yankees.

Few people participated in the lucrative consultation of Manafort in Ukraine, but prosecutors have Signal plans to call Tad Devine, who worked on the project for the Party of Ukrainian Regions and who was l 39; one of the chief strategists of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in his candidacy for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. The Democratic consultant Daniel Rabin, who also worked in Ukraine, appears on the list of prosecutors' witnesses. .

Other prosecution witnesses include former Manafort partner Rick Gates, who was initially indicted with Manafort an. Alex Trusko, former personal assistant to Manafort, agreed to cooperate with the FBI at the start of the investigation and provided details that assisted prosecutors in obtaining search warrants for Manafort's home in Alexandria, Virginia and a locker nearby containing his case.

A real estate agent who lived near Manafort and helped him buy his Alexandria condo, Wayne Holland, is also on the witness list. POLITICO reported last year that Holland was called by a grand jury to consider Manafort and tried in vain to assert a privilege to avoid testifying.

The 35-person witness list provides no details. last names. The connection of some names on the list to Manafort is not clear.

Note also the names that did not list the government witnesses. A notable omission: Jeffrey Yohai, former son-in-law of Manafort. Yohai pleaded guilty to a mortgage loan fraud plea in California earlier this year and offered to cooperate with Mueller's team. Prosecutors accused Manafort of trying to deceive a lender by telling Yohai to falsely claim that he was living in a refinanced New York condo.

Also missing from the list: Stephen Calk, CEO of Federal Savings Bank, a Chicago-based mortgage lender. Prosecutors said Calk has greased the process to allow Manafort to obtain $ 16 million in loans for 2016 and 2017. Calk has facilitated loans as part of a successful attempt to win a position at Trump campaign economic advisory board and unsuccessful effort To get a top-notch position at the Pentagon, prosecutors have alleged that Calk has not been publicly charged with any crime.

However, two other employees of the Federal Savings Bank, Dennis Raico and James Brennan, appear on the list of prosecution witnesses. Manafort is also facing another lawsuit that must open in September in Washington on the charge of not being registered as a foreign and money laundering agent. . The Mueller team is also pursuing this case.

Theodoric Meyer, Marianne Levine, and Josh Meyer contributed to this report.