Suit maker testifies that Manafort spent nearly $1M through wire transfers

The ex-manager of a luxury menswear store on Wednesday testified that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort paid nearly $1 million for expensive suits with wire transfers from accounts alleged by the special counsel’s office to have been used to hide money Manafort made for lobbying work in Ukraine.

Maximillian Katzman, former manager of Alan Couture in New York City, testified in Manafort’s Virginia trial that the former Trump aide was his only customer to wire money from overseas bank accounts to make purchases at the store, according to The Washington Post.

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Manafort is accused of using bank accounts based in Cyprus to launder around $30 million he and a business associate made lobbying for pro-Russia political groups in Ukraine prior to the 2016 election.

Katzman testified that between 2010 and 2014, Manafort purchased $929,000 worth of menswear from the New York boutique, while high-end men’s fashion store House of Bijan CFO Ronald Wall testified that Manafort was “a very good customer” during that time.

Wall added that it was unusual for customers of House of Bijan to pay with wire transfers, especially from foreign bank accounts, as Manafort regularly did.

Manafort appeared in court Wednesday for day two of his Virginia court proceedings, where he faces 18 charges related to tax fraud and money laundering surrounding the funds made from lobbying in Ukraine.

Prosecutors have sought to paint the former Trump campaign aide as living a lavish lifestyle while concealing the depths of his income from tax authorities.

The trial, Manafort’s first before a separate one begins in Washington D.C. next month, comes as President Trump has increased his attacks on the special counsel investigation and the Justice Department.

Trump has frequently called Robert Mueller’s investigation a “rigged witch hunt” despite Mueller’s office returning indictments on dozens of Russian nationals suspected of interfering on behalf of Russia’s government in the 2016 elections, and several former Trump campaign officials being hit with charges unrelated to election meddling.