An accountant for U.S. President Donald Trump's one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort admitted in trial testimony on Friday that she helped backdate documents and falsify financial records at Manafort and his business partner's request to reduce his tax burden and help him qualify for loans.
Cynthia Laporta, who prepared Manafort's tax returns starting in 2014, told a jury in federal court in Alexandria that she was testifying under an immunity agreement with the government to avoid being prosecuted as Manafort was charged with bank fraud and tax fraud.
One member of the jury nodded in apparent agreement when U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis cut off the prosecution's questioning to ask her if she was afraid of being prosecuted herself.