Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, whose trial on tax and bank fraud charges began this week, stands accused of shielding millions of dollars from the IRS. Federal prosecutors are building their case by showing that Manafort purchased stuff with wire transfers from overseas bank accounts. This is at once a sound legal strategy and an extremely entertaining one, because the stuff Manafort bought via those wire transfers is absolutely insane.
On Wednesday, we learned that Manafort sunk a huge amount of cash into a wardrobe that could be best described as conspicuous consumption–meets–petting zoo. The item that made the most headlines was, per prosecutors, a “custom $15,000 jacket made from an ostrich.” Observers wondered: What part of the ostrich was used for the jacket? Was it the feathers, which are famously soft and luxurious? The scaly legs, whose length would provide some nice, uninterrupted strips of jacket material? Might it have been the claws? As the proud owner a $15 fake ostrich-leather miniskirt from Old Navy that lasted me from eighth grade through college, I know fake ostrich skin can make for a sophisticated and durable garment. Real ostrich skin would probably be even better.
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