Thanks, Paul Manafort — for showing that the U.S. needs to crack down on dirty money
Over the past two weeks, Americans have been treated to one of the most astonishing tales of grand corruption in our republic’s history. The trial of Paul Manafort – former Trump campaign chairman and lobbyist for some of the sleaziest regimes of the past quarter-century – has given us a remarkable look at the tools, the tactics and the trade craft of kleptocratic overseas regimes, and how their Western enablers have abetted America’s transformation into a thriving offshore haven.
The trial, of course, is about much more than Manafort. As the Atlantic’s Franklin Foer has written, the proceedings against the ex-lobbyist, who made tens of millions from his consulting work for then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, have offered “an occasion for the United States to awaken from its collective slumber about the creeping dangers of kleptocracy.”
Are we getting the message?