Special counsel files new charging document in Manafort case; bail filing alleges bank fraud
Paul Manafort/Shutterstock.com.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has filed a new, sealed charging document in the money laundering case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his onetime business associate Rick Gates.
A one-page document included in a court binder indicates that the new charging document has been filed, but doesn’t indicate the nature of the new charges, who is targeted, or whether the charges concern a plea deal said to be under consideration by Gates, report Politico, the Associated Press and Reuters.
The new document follows the government’s assertion last Friday in opposing Manafort’s bail request that it has learned of new criminal conduct that includes “a series of bank frauds and bank fraud conspiracies.” Prosecutors cited “substantial evidence” that Manafort secured a mortgage by submitting “doctored profit and loss statements” to the Federal Savings Bank. CNN reported on the allegations, contained in a court document filed on Friday.
NBC News, meanwhile, is reporting that federal prosecutors are investigating whether Manafort promised a job in the White House to a Federal Savings Bank executive in return for $16 million in home loans. The story is based on two anonymous sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
When contacted by NBC, a spokesman for Manafort referred to previous statements maintaining that the loans were over-collateralized.
