Manafort Agrees To Post $11.7 Million In Property For Bail

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Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman to Donald Trump accused of money laundering, reached a new bail agreement with prosecutors in which he would forfeit four properties worth $11.7 million if he fails to appear in court.

Under a deal made public Thursday, Manafort would be released from electronic monitoring and home confinement in Alexandria, Virginia. He could travel among Florida, New York and Virginia, where he has homes, and Washington D.C., where he must make court appearances.

Manafort, an international political consultant, has surrendered his passports and agreed he won’t travel overseas. Special Counsel Robert Mueller agreed to the bail terms, which need the approval of U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, according to a filing by Manafort’s lawyers. Manafort’s wife and daughter also agreed to secure his bail package.

“Simply put, Mr. Manafort’s family would face severe economic consequences if he were not to appear as required,” according to the filing by his attorneys, Kevin Downing and Thomas Zehnle.

Manafort and a business associate, Rick Gates, are accused in an Oct. 27 indictment of lying to U.S. authorities about their work in Ukraine, laundering millions of dollars and hiding offshore accounts. Both pleaded not guilty on Oct. 30.

The four properties that Manafort and his family are posting have an assessed value of $22.2 million and mortgages of $10.5 million, according to the filings. Manafort previously agreed to an unsecured bail package of $10 million.

The filings included deeds, mortgages and valuations for four properties: an eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom house in Bridgehampton, New York, assessed at $13.5 million, with a $9.5 million mortgage; a condominium in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood with an assessed value of $4.7 million and a mortgage of $1 million; a $2.7 million condo in Alexandria that is pledged as collateral on the Bridgehampton property; and a $1.25 million home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

A Chicago-based lender, Federal Savings Bank, extended the Bridgehampton mortgage in November 2016. The bank’s chief executive officer, Stephen Calk, was named as an economic adviser to Trump’s campaign in August 2016, the same month Manafort resigned as its chairman.

Prosecutors working for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. have subpoenaed lenders for documents related to transactions by Manafort, and they’ve scheduled interviews with 10 to 20 of his work associates and lenders, including Calk, a person familiar with the investigation has said.

In his court filing, Manafort’s lawyers included the appraisal report conducted for Federal Savings Bank of the Bridgehampton house. The 2.4-acre property includes a pool, a putting green, a pool house, a tennis court and a pond, according to the report. It cited sales of comparable homes in the area, including one for $15 million and another for $13 million.

(c) 2017, Bloomberg · David Voreacos, Andrew Harris 

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1 COMMENT

  1. The US “justice” system knows how to circumvent this pesky presumption of innocence: freeze assets, make it impossible to earn income, set bail at an impossible amount – then even if innocent, the target will be financially ruined and won’t have any funds to pay attorney fees.

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