The firm that employed Paul Manafort’s former accountant, Cindy Laporta, has fired Laporta and launched an internal investigation into her conduct after she provided witness testimony in the case against Manafort last week, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
In her testimony, Laporta told the court she knew that Manafort’s tax returns contained false information, but she filed them anyway, out of fear of legal retaliation from Manafort and his former business partner Rick Gates.
In a Tuesday statement shared with Bloomberg, the firm Kositzka, Wicks & Co. said it was “shocked by Ms. Laporta’s testimony, which clearly represents that she failed to meet the firm’s high standards for professional and ethical conduct in her work for Mr. Manafort.”
The firm confirmed in a follow up email to Bloomberg that Laporta was “no longer working here.”
Laporta, who provided her testimony in exchange for immunity, told the court she knew Gates was using false loan documents to lower Manafort’s taxes and secure loans.
