Akhmetov, Lyovochkin involved in Manafort case - CNN

"Serhiy Lyovochkin and Rinat Akhmetov, two Ukrainian oligarchs who had paid Paul Manafort for years for his political work in their country, were the intended recipients of the American polling data that Manafort shared with Konstantin Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign," the report said.

Earlier, special counsel Robert Mueller's team, which is investigating Russian meddling in the U.S. election, last summer described the oligarchs as "generous backers of Manafort's Ukrainian lobbying work."

The Justice Department initially asked Mueller to look into the pro-Russian Ukrainians' ties to Manafort because of how they may relate to other allegations of Russian coordination with the Trump campaign.

According to the report, Manafort earned millions from his Ukrainian political work over several years. That included wire transfers from Akhmetov and Lyovochkin through offshore bank accounts, prosecutors said at trial. The revenue appeared to dry up by 2015. However, Manafort wrote in one August 2016 email to his accountant that he expected a payment of $2.4 million in November 2016 for work he did in Ukraine, according to trial documents. A spokesman for Manafort confirmed that Manafort expected to receive the $2.4 million in income from his Ukrainian political backers, including Lyovochkin and Akhmetov. But the money was meant to reimburse old debts that predated the Trump campaign.

It was reported last month that Manafort had lied to Mueller's team in at least five significant episodes after he started cooperating with investigators. The issue concerned Manafort's attempts to hide links with Konstantin Kilimnik, who is associated with Russian intelligence.

Earlier, Manafort's lawyers accidentally shared a documentary confirmation indicating the fact of his meeting with Kilimnik and them discussing a "Ukraine peace plan."