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--Rick Gates, the star witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's fraud and conspiracy trial against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, testifies against his former business partner.
--Gates pleaded guilty in February to lying to investigators and conspiracy against the United States, and agreed to work with Mueller as part of a plea deal.
--His potential sentence was drastically reduced, and the special counsel holds the power to petition the court to further reduce his sentencing time based on his cooperation.
Rick Gates, the star witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's fraud and conspiracy trial against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, took the stand Monday to testify against his former business partner.
After a touch-and-go start — where it appeared for a moment that witness Paula Liss would be called instead — Gates immediately testified to federal prosecutors that he committed crimes with Manafort.
In a blow to the case being laid out by Manafort's defense team, Gates then told prosecutors that he had been directed by Manafort to report overseas income as loans in order to lower his taxable income.
Since their opening statement last week, Manafort's lawyers have sought to blame Gates for breaking finance laws, framing him as a liar who abused Manafort's trust and embezzled millions of dollars from him.
Gates, clad in a blue suit and sporting an uncharacteristically clean-shaven face, did admit in court that he stole several hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort by filing false expense reports.
But while sitting just a few feet from Manafort, Gates testified that Manafort had worked with him to commit financial crimes, including filing false tax returns. Manafort had directed him to commit other crimes, Gates said, such as not disclosing foreign bank accounts and omitting information from a court deposition.
Gates pleaded guilty in February to lying to investigators and conspiracy against the United States, and struck a plea deal to fully cooperate with the special counsel. His potential sentence was drastically reduced to nearly six years, and the special counsel holds the power to petition the court to further reduce his sentencing time based on his cooperation.
In court on Monday, Gates said that under sentencing guidelines he could face as few as 57 months for his crimes.
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to the 18 criminal counts against him in the Virginia federal criminal case, as well as similar charges in a case set to go to trial in September in Washington district court. Mueller's team lodged charges against Manafort in both cases, though neither are directly related to the special counsel's ongoing probe of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Gates follows more than a dozen witnesses brought in by the U.S. attorney to testify against Manafort. Prosecutors have highlighted dozens of invoices, email threads and financial statements to bolster their accusations that Manafort filed false tax returns and committed bank fraud to maintain his lavish spending habits.
While Gates' testimony had almost always been expected, it was unclear precisely when he would be called into the courtroom. The Washington Post reported that defense lawyer Kevin Downing revealed Monday that Gates was on deck while cross-examining Manafort's accountant, Cindy Laporta, who returned to testify for a second day under the protection of immunity.
The government instead initially called Liss to testify on Monday afternoon, according to reports, but Gates ended up taking the stand shortly after.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Reuters contributed to this report.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/06/rick-gates-set-to-testify-against-paul-manafort-monday.html
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