Report: Manhattan DA Schedules Interviews With Manafort Associates

Paul Manafort walks from Federal District Court in Washington, Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, and Manafort's business associate Rick Gates pleaded not guilty to felony charges of conspiracy against the United States and other counts. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, file photo, Paul Manafort walks from Federal District Court in Washington. The three nations named in the indictment of former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort have been kno... FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, file photo, Paul Manafort walks from Federal District Court in Washington. The three nations named in the indictment of former Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort have been known by financial crime experts in the past as locations for money laundering or at risk of being used for money laundering. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) MORE LESS
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The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is reportedly scheduling interviews with as many as 20 business associates and lenders of indicted Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, including a fellow adviser on the Trump team.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Stephen Calk, who served on the Trump campaign’s economic advisory council, is one of the individuals whose ties to Manafort are being scrutinized by Manhattan prosecutors. Calk’s Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank lent millions of dollars to properties owned by Manafort, whom special counsel Robert Mueller indicted on financial crimes charges in late October.

Manafort has pleaded not guilty to those charges, but his legal troubles are far-reaching. Since this spring, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has been looking into possible tax evasion and the falsification of business records relating to his web of real estate transactions, according to Bloomberg. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is conducting a separate probe into potential money laundering by the GOP operative.

Notably, individuals found guilty of state crimes, unlike those convicted of charges brought by federal prosecutors, can’t be pardoned by the President.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that both state investigations were sharing information with Mueller’s probe.

Spokespeople for the bank, Manafort, Vance’s office and Schneiderman’s office declined Bloomberg’s requests for comment.

President Donald Trump has shown no particular sympathy for Manafort’s plight thus far. After news broke that Manafort was indicted for a money laundering conspiracy and for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Trump said that the charges predated Manafort’s involvement with the campaign, and the President tried to redirect attention to “Crooked Hillary & the Dems.”

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Notable Replies

  1. …and no Presidential Power of Pardon can save them from this.

  2. Only the Presidential Polonium Power of Alt-President Putin…

  3. Starring Agent Mueller as “The Pardon Nazi”…NO PARDONS FOR YOU!!!

  4. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    Wasn’t Vance the one who walked away from prosecuting Jared? Hope there isn’t a bargain price for multiples.

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