Paul Manafort. They just don't come any slimier than this character. (excepting his boss)

[cali]

From the minute he first oozed across my screen, my creep-o-meter shot far into the red zone. There is something ineffably slimy about him, matched only by his boss.

There is something about him that comes across as wholly amoral.

Manafort seized every opportunity he could from the cold war, working for and lobbying for, a cavalcade of dictators and strong men with heinous human rights records.

For example:

Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga[a] (/məˈbuːtuː ˈsɛseɪ ˈsɛkoʊ/; born Joseph-Desiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was the military dictator and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which Mobutu renamed Zaire in 1971) from 1965 to 1997. He also served as Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity in 1967–1968.

Once in power, Mobutu formed an authoritarian regime, amassed vast personal wealth, and attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence, while enjoying considerable support from the United States due to his anti-communist stance.

During the Congo Crisis, Belgian forces helped Mobutu in a coup against the nationalist government of Patrice Lumumba in 1960 to rule the government. Lumumba was the first leader in the country to be democratically elected, but he was subsequently deposed in a coup d'état organised by Colonel Mobutu and executed by a Katangese firing squad led by Julien Gat, a Belgian mercenary.[1] Mobutu then assumed the role of army chief of staff,[2] before taking power directly in a second coup in 1965. As part of his program of "national authenticity," Mobutu changed the Congo's name to Zaire in 1971 and his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko in 1972.

Mobutu established a one-party state in which all power was concentrated in his hands. He also became the object of a pervasive cult of personality.[2] During his reign, Mobutu built a highly centralised state and amassed a large personal fortune through economic exploitation and corruption, leading some to call his rule a "kleptocracy."[3][4] The nation suffered from uncontrolled inflation, a large debt, and massive currency devaluations. By 1991, economic deterioration and unrest led him to agree to share power with opposition leaders, but he used the army to thwart change until May 1997, when rebel forces led by Laurent Kabila expelled him from the country. Already suffering from advanced prostate cancer, he died three months later in Morocco.

Mobutu became notorious for corruption, nepotism, and the embezzlement of between US$4 billion and $15 billion during his reign, as well as extravagances such as Concorde-flown shopping trips to Paris.[5] Mobutu presided over the country for over three decades, a period of widespread human rights violations. He has been described as the "archetypal African dictator."[5]

<snip>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobutu_Sese_Seko

<snip>
Association with Jonas Savimbi[edit]

In 1985, Manafort's firm, BMSK, signed a $600,000 contract with Jonas Savimbi, the leader of the Angolan rebel group UNITA, to refurbish Savimbi's image in Washington and secure financial support on the basis of his anti-communism. BMSK arranged for Savimbi to attend events at the American Enterprise Institute (where Jeane Kirkpatrick gave him a laudatory introduction), the Heritage Foundation, and Freedom House; in the wake of the campaign Congress approved hundreds of millions of dollars in covert American aid to Savimbi's group.[15] Allegedly, Manafort's continuing lobbying efforts helped preserve the flow of money to Savimbi several years after the Soviet Union ceased its involvement in the Angolan conflict, forestalling peace talks.[15]

Lobbying for other foreign leaders[edit]

Manafort's firm, BMSK, accepted $950,000 yearly to lobby for Ferdinand Marcos.[16][17] He was also involved in lobbying for Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaïre and attempted to recruit Siad Barre of Somalia as a client.[18] His firm also lobbied on behalf of the governments of the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya (earning between $660,000 and $750,000 each year between 1991 and 1993), and Nigeria ($1 million in 1991). These activities led Manafort's firm to be listed amongst the top five lobbying firms receiving money from human-rights abusing regimes in the Center for Public Integrity report "The Torturer's Lobby".[19]

Involvement in the Karachi Affair[edit]

Manafort wrote the campaign strategy for Edouard Balladur in the 1995 elections, and admitted to having been paid [20] (at least $200,000). The money was transferred to him through his friend, Lebanese arms-dealer Abdul Rahman al-Assir, from middle-men fees paid for arranging the sale of three French Agosta-class submarines to Pakistan, in a scandal known as the Karachi Affair.[15]

Association with Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence Agency[edit]

Manafort received $700,000 from the Kashmiri American Council between 1990 and 1994, supposedly to promote the plight of the Kashmiri people. However, an FBI investigation revealed the money was actually from Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency as part of a disinformation operation to divert attention from terrorism. A former Pakistani ISI official claimed Manafort was aware of the nature of the operation.[21] While producing a documentary as part of the deal, Manafort interviewed several Indian officials while pretending to be a CNN reporter.[22]

HUD scandal[edit]

In the late 1980s, Manafort was criticized for using his connections at HUD to ensure funding for a $43 million rehabilitation of dilapidated housing in Seabrook, N.J.[23] Manafort's firm received a $326,000 fee for its work in getting HUD approval of the grant largely through personal influence with Deborah Gore Dean, an executive assistant to former HUD Secretary Samuel R. Pierce, Jr.[24]

<snip>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Manafort

And this doesn't even touch on his association with former Ukraine President Yanukovych and his now defunct Party of Regions.

5 Things You Need to Know About Paul Manafort


<snip>

So who is Paul Manafort? Put simply, he straddles two worlds. One, as the ultimate U.S. political insider and tireless promoter who’s secured giant packages of aid from Congress. Second, as a political strategist who has polished reputations for a roster of some of the most infamous leaders on the planet.

<snip>

Promoting the World’s Dictators

In 1980. Manafort co-founded Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly (BMSK), a powerhouse beltway lobbying firm alongside partners Stone, a longtime Trump confidante, and Charles Black, a leading strategist in the John Kasich campaign. One of its most lucrative clients was Jonas Savimbi, leader of UNITA, the pro-Western rebel army fighting the Communist government in Angola. Manafort helped make Savimbi a heroic figure among conservative Washington think-tanks, and aided him in securing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the Reagan and Bush Administrations, money that never brought victory.

In the mid-1980s, the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator of the Philippines, paid BMSK $950,000 a year to lobby for funding, as well as polish his blackened reputation among lawmakers, with Manafort serving as his chief advocate. Another top client was Mobutu Seko of Zaire, renowned as the quintessential corrupt African dictator. Manafort even sought to recruit Siad Barre, the strongman of Somalia. In her book “Choosing the Hero,” Riva Levinson recalls that Manafort asked her assistance in luring Barre. When she objected on ethical grounds, the boss explained: “We all know he’s a bad guy, but he’s our bad guy!”

Levinson goes on to say that a running joke at BMSK held that its work was “like playing one big game of Stratego: building armies and scheming to take over the world. That is exactly what it feels like working with Manafort. In fact, at times, that’s exactly what is going on.” The plotting inside Trump Tower might reveal similar ambitions.

One of his most unusual assignments came in the heart of Old Europe. In 1995, Manafort was paid $90,000 by a Lebanese-born arms merchant to advise veteran finance official Edouard Balladur in what became an unsuccessful bid for the presidency of France. An investigation revealed that those funds were illegally funneled from the kickbacks and commissions collected from the sale of French submarines to Pakistan. What became known as the Karachi affair became an énorme scandale in France, damaging the reputations of the politicians involved, though they escaped prosecution.

<snip>

read:http://fortune.com/2016/08/15/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-paul-manafort/

Paul Manafort Questioned by Cayman Islands Court About His Fund With a Russian Billionaire

http://heatst.com/politics/paul-manafort-questioned-by-cayman-islands-court-about-his-fund-with-a-russian-billionaire/

Corruption writ large- and very profitably.

[lindysalsagal]

1. They'd need a series of films to portray this villian

The basic question is, if Frump were a decent businessman, why on earth would he get involved with this creep?

[cali]

2. Why is that even a question? We know factually, that he is far from being a "decent businessman".

Donald Trump is a CLASSIC "Strong Man".

Paul Manafort is a classic profile of a Strong Man enabler/sycophant.

[auntpurl]

5. I think he owes a LOT of money in Russia

and taking Manafort (and his influence) into his campaign was part of the payment.

Manafort is like a hastily-drawn mafia boss in a b-movie. Only infinitely more dangerous.

[cali]

6. I disagree with your comparison- not that he's infinitely more dangerous

but the mafia boss comparison. More like a consigliore to a mafia boss.

[auntpurl]

8. Yes, the scumbag behind the scumbag. nt

[get the red out]

3. Can't expose this slimeball enough

For all the scary shit Trump represents, the influence of this creep, and his authoritarian employers, is a danger to the world.

[cali]

4. Absolutely. I want this fuck taken down. He represents the WORST of "lobbying"

[get the red out]

9. I recall how much my Gradfather always hated Nixon

And the whole Trump campaign makes Watergate look like a traffic ticket.

[cali]

12. Incredibly (or perhaps increduous as it may seem), I agree

Not that Watergate looks like a traffic ticket in comparison, or that I hated Nixon, but that Trump's capacity for committing bad acts on a global scale, exceeds Nixon's- and that's saying something when one hearkens back to Cambodia.

[RapSoDee]

7. Comrade Manafort (R) has totally embraced actual Republican "values"

...as opposed to their pretend values of mom and apple pie, values that the Republicans routinely mock through their epic & ongoing hypocrisy.

Manafort (R) is the ultimate & inevitable outcome of Latter Day Republican Greed & Negativity.

[get the red out]

10. But R's are all about patriotism!

The US Olympic swimmer who didn't put her hand over her heart for the National Antham, they speak out against important love of country stuff like that!

[MrModerate]

11. If there weren't enough reasons to reject Trump . . .

In a sane world, this revelation would be the end of his campaign. Today, it'll hardly be noticed. This is how far the bar has been lowered to accommodate Trump's belly-crawling pursuit of an office he is utterly unfit to occupy.

[cali]

13. Right. And that may well be the legacy of damage that Trump has passed on.

I'm hoping that further revelations damn Mr. Manafort and land him in Federal Prison.

[MrModerate]

14. "Lock him up! Lock him up!" n/t

[Vinca]

15. Have you noticed his campaign people look like the cast of "The Sopranos?"

Every time I see Manafort I think "Pauly Walnuts."

[cali]

16. Yes, though in Manafort's case, I was thinking more 'The Godfather' consigliere

not in terms of form, but function.