Rick Gates: I Helped Manafort File Bogus Tax Returns

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Rick Gates, the former longtime deputy to President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, has testified that the duo had 15 foreign accounts that were not reported to the federal government and that they knew it was unlawful, according to reporters. CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz live tweeted Gates' testimony Monday afternoon, where Gates reportedly said Manafort instructed him not to submit the required documents.

"Rick Gates is now telling the court about his admission that he committed crimes alongside Manafort, to which he pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the federal investigators,"Prokupecz tweeted. Gates also reportedly talked about how he worked for Manafort from 2006 to 2016.

"I believe Mr. Manafort viewed me as an employee of the firm," Gates reportedly said.

Gates told jurors Manafort ordered him to lie and detailed how he helped Manafort file false tax returns by lying to Manafort's accountants, including under-reporting income, creating phony loans and not disclosing Manafort’s ownership of the foreign accounts, according to CNN.

Manafort's defense has sought to blame Gates, described by witnesses as his "right-hand man," for any illegal conduct and accused him of embezzling millions of dollars from Manafort.

Gates reportedly admitted on the stand Monday that he embezzled "hundreds of thousands" of dollars from off-shore accounts that he had authority over, according to NBC News reporters.

Gates is one of special counsel Robert Mueller's key witnesses. He cut a plea deal earlier this year and admitted to two felony charges. Manafort's trial resumed Monday afternoon in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia with testimony from tax preparer Cindy Laporta. She said she helped hide $900,000 in foreign income as a loan in order to reduce Manafort's tax burden.

Manafort's defense team has indicated it will paint Gates as an embezzler and a liar who took advantage of Manafort and flouted the law without his boss's knowledge. Gates is expected to face bruising cross-examination.

All told, prosecutors allege that Manafort failed to report a "significant percentage" of the more than $60 million they say he received from Ukrainian oligarchs. They sought to show jurors how that money flowed from more than a dozen shell companies used to stash the income in Cyprus.

Though the names of those companies appeared on wire transfers and at times on his bookkeeper's ledger, both Manafort's accountants and his bookkeeper say they never knew that the companies — and corresponding offshore bank accounts — were controlled by Manafort.

When they appeared, the bookkeeper and accountants said, they thought the companies were clients or, in some cases, lenders.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press