Manafort Scheme Paid Lobbyists With Offshore Funds, U.S. Says

By David McLaughlin and Bill Allison, Bloomberg News

Two Washington lobbying firms that aided former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s clandestine influence campaign on behalf of Ukraine’s deposed president were paid more than $2 million through offshore accounts tied to Manafort and his business partner, according to prosecutors.

Identified in Monday’s indictment of Manafort and Rick Gates only as Company A and Company B, the firms were hired to lobby in the U.S. for Ukraine and the country’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, who is an ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“At the direction of Manafort and Gates, Company A and ...