Manafort spent millions on homes, rugs, clothes: court filing

Paul Manafort, the indicted former campaign manager for U.S. President Donald Trump, spent almost $1 million US on eight rugs in two years and more than $1.3 million on clothes from shops in Beverly Hills, Calif., and New York City.

His lavish lifestyle with homes in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Hamptons, Arlington, Va.,and elsewhere were detailed in an indictment filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that was revealed on Monday.

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Prosecutors said they found payments by Manafort for four Range Rovers and a Mercedes-Benz among transactions that they alleged came illegally from overseas to avoid paying U.S. income taxes, according to the 31-page court filing.

Prosecutors said they found evidence he bought a condo in a restored red-brick building in New York's upscale Soho neighbourhood for $2.85 million,also from overseas money, most often Cyprus.

Not guilty plea

Manafort and associate Rick Gates pleaded not guilty on Monday to money laundering and other charges filed in a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Manafort's attorney, Kevin Downing, said on Monday there was no evidence that his client colluded with the Russian government while working for the Trump campaign. Neither Trump nor his campaign was mentioned in the indictment against Manafort and Gates.

Manafort ran the Trump campaign from June to August of 2016 before resigning amid reports he might have received millions of dollars in illegal payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

The indictment said both Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars of income from Ukraine work and laundered money through scores of U.S. and foreign entities to hide payments from American authorities. Filed by Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the indictment said Manafort "used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States."

Hundreds of thousands on clothes

The indictment said he spent $849,215 in a men's clothing store in New York and $520,440 at one in Beverly Hills. He spent $5,434,793 on a house in Water Mill, N.Y., in Long Island's Hamptons, shelling out $820,240 for landscaping.

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Aerial photos of the place show gardens, a pool, a tennis court, a basketball court and a putting green and sand trap on 0.96 hectare.

A seven-bedroom Brooklyn brownstone, which he bought for $3 million, was described in a real estate agent's listing as "dripping with detail perfectly intact crown moldings and medallions, gold leafed carved window detail, fivemarble mantels, and original Lincrusta paper wall covering."