Manafort Prosecutors Ask Whether ‘Opaque’ Firm’s Loan Is ‘Sham’
- Woodlawn deal with Trump’s ex-campaign head under DOJ scrutiny
- Allegations are ‘paranoid nonsense,’ Woodlawn lawyer says
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, walks to his vehicle outside the U.S. Courthouse after a bond hearing in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 6, 2017.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergProsecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller raised the prospect that a $1 million loan to Paul Manafort in 2017 from an “opaque” Nevada company might have been a “sham transaction” in which no repayment was ever expected.
The company, Woodlawn LLC, could be an “alter ego” for Manafort himself, prosecutors wrote in court papers filed late Friday in Washington. Because the company’s ultimate funding source remains unclear, they wrote, they are seeking information that would rule out that Manafort himself could be behind the bid to secretly recoup money he agreed to turn over to the government.