Paul Manafort and his pot of gold

The charging documents against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort have us all wondering whether this will ultimately lead to the president himself. There’s a sense that while the FBI hasn’t found the smoking gun, it may have the shell casings.

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But in the meantime, here’s the real value of these documents; they are a master class in how to succeed in real estate!

Lesson No. 1: Set up a company to give advice to corrupt foreign politicians who will apparently pay whatever you ask because they’re stealing the money anyway.

I mean, $75 million dollars for helping Ukrainian politicians? Did he restore their power grid too? That’s amazing.

Lesson No. 2: Park that money in places like Cyprus, Seychelles, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines where the U.S. government can’t see it.

Lesson No. 3: Use the hidden money to buy real estate in cash because the seller typically doesn’t care where their money comes from. Then refurbish the properties into luxury Airbnb rentals and use the value of those properties as collateral to take out low-interest loans from American banks. Now you have legal cash and you don’t have to pay taxes on it. Perfect!

Lesson No. 4: Make sure the FBI never finds out.

This, of course, is where Manafort screwed up. He tried his best, but the FBI did something he obviously wasn’t expecting. The agency got hold of years worth of his federal tax returns.

Again, as the president has said, this has nothing to do with him. And he’s right. This is basically about a guy who invested in real estate and just put a few alternative facts on some silly tax returns.

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