Prosecutors at Manafort trial offer evidence of apparently fake invoiceshttps://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-manafort/prosecutors-at-manafort-trial-offer-evidence-of-apparently-fake-invoices-idUSKBN1KM3QEQuote
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - Two witnesses in the trial of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort testified on Wednesday that invoices purporting to bill a company tied to Manafort appeared to be fake.
It was the first time that prosecutors from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office disclosed the invoices, which contained spelling and address errors, missing information and in one case, contained information about services that were never rendered.
It is unclear who created the invoices or how they were used. Prosecutors have charged Manafort, 69, with tax fraud, bank fraud and failing to report foreign bank accounts. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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The two most crucial witnesses on Wednesday appeared to be Maximillian Katzman, of New York’s elite custom clothier Alan Couture, and Stephen Jacobsen, a retired general contractor who completed multiple home renovation projects at Manafort’s various houses.
Between 2010 and 2014, Jacobsen confirmed he billed Manafort more than $3 million for projects from kitchen renovations to the construction of a pool house.
Prosecutors then displayed a copy of an invoice on the screen that was different from the others Jacobsen had sent Manafort over the years.
It contained an imprint of his company’s logo but billed for architectural services and listed as the client a company called Global Endeavor, which court records say is tied to Manafort.
“That is not a bill from my company,” he testified, adding that Global Endeavor was never a client nor did his firm provide architectural services.
Katzman provided similar testimony about two invoices he was shown by prosecutors that contained small mistakes in the spelling of Alan Couture’s name and address.
“There are errors again with our company name and zip code,” he said.
And.... the plot thins. :/