DOJ suing Paul Manafort for $3M for allegedly failing to disclose offshore accounts

The Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

It is seeking $3 million in fines and penalties over Manafort's alleged failure to file reports disclosing more than 20 offshore bank accounts he controlled in Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the U.K. between 2006 and 2014.

"Today’s civil lawsuit seeks a money judgment against Mr. Manafort for simply failing to file a tax form," Manafort’s attorney Jeffrey Neiman said in a statement to ABC News. "Mr. Manafort was aware the Government was going to file the suit because he has tried for months to resolve this civil matter. Nonetheless, the Government insisted on filing this suit simply to embarrass Mr. Manafort."

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, notes that the Treasury Department previously sent him a notice of its assessment of the penalties in July of 2020.

Manafort was pardoned by former President Donald Trump five months later in December of 2020 for his tax fraud, conspiracy and obstruction convictions stemming from former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The DOJ's lawsuit indicates that prosecutors don't believe Trump's pardon of Manafort encompasses his failure to file Foreign Bank Account reports in 2013 and 2014.