The Latest: Prosecution asks jurors to find Manafort guilty
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Latest on the trial of onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort (all times local):
12 p.m.
The prosecution has finished its closing argument in the tax and bank fraud trial of onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and has asked jurors to return a guilty verdict on all 18 counts.
Manafort's lawyers are expected to get their turn Wednesday afternoon.
After that, prosecutor Greg Andres will be permitted to make a brief rebuttal argument before the jury hears a lengthy set of instructions from the judge.
Andres has told jurors that Manafort lied to keep his money hidden from the IRS when he was making tens of millions of dollars advising Ukrainian politicians.
And the prosecutor says that when the Ukrainian money dried up, Manafort lied about his income to obtain loans from multiple banks.
Defense lawyers have blamed Manafort's top deputy, Richard Gates, for embezzling from Manafort and wrecking Manafort's finances.
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11:35 a.m.
Prosecutors say the star witness in Paul Manafort's financial fraud trial is actually the large number of documents presented as evidence of his alleged crimes — and not the testimony of his longtime protege, Rick Gates.
Prosecutor Greg Andres tell jurors to "test" Gates' testimony against the collection of documents that he says show Manafort orchestrated a scheme to hide millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts and later to fraudulently obtain loans.
Andres says prosecutors aren't asking jurors to like Gates or take everything he said at "face value." Andres says the testimony of other witnesses and the trove of documents are enough to convict Manafort on tax evasion and bank fraud charges.
Manafort's defense team has indicated it plans to put the blame for any crimes on Gates.
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10:15 a.m.
Prosecutors are presenting their closing argument in the financial fraud trial of onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Prosecutor Greg Andres is telling jurors that the case boils down to greed and deception. Andres says that when jurors follow the trail of Manafort's money, they'll find it's "littered" with lies.
Andres is making his final appeal to the jury after prosecutors spent more than two weeks putting on evidence they say proves Manafort concealed millions of dollars in offshore accounts from the IRS and later carried out a bank fraud scheme.
Manafort chose not to testify or call witness in his defense on the charges of tax evasion and bank fraud.
His lawyers are expected to make their closing argument later Wednesday.