A month after turning himself in for charges he faces connected to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort reached a bail deal with Mueller’s team, according to court documents filed by Manafort’s lawyers Thursday.
Manafort’s lawyers are now seeking for a federal judge to approve of his release under the conditions laid out in the court filing.
Manafort has offered Mueller as bail four of his real estate properties in New York, Virginia, and Floridia, which his lawyers claimed were worth a total of $11.65 million.
Additionally, Manafort and his wife have agreed not to travel internationally, and Manafort would also limit his domestic travel to Florida, Virginia, New York and the District of Columbia. For any additional domestic travel, Manafort would seek the permission of the court, his lawyers said.
A separate court document filed by his lawyers Thursday indicated that Manafort had offered Mueller’s team two people who who can serve as sureties if the value of the real estate drops below the $10 million the government is seeking in bail.
Manafort’s lawyers have asked the court, and were granted permission, to redact those two people’s identities and financial records in the filings due to the “substantial publicity and media coverage” around the case.
Manafort has been under house arrest since Oct. 30, when the federal grand jury indictment against him and his business partner Rick Gates became public and the two men turned themselves into the FBI.
They face charges of money laundering, tax evasion and failure to disclose foreign lobbying. They have both pleaded not guilty.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has suggested that the two defendants are a flight risk, but signaled a willingness to release them from home confinement if they reached a bail deal with the prosecutors.
In the weeks since, Mueller, in court filings, indicated that his team was struggling to confirm Gates‘ and Manafort’s claims about their net worth as they hashed out a bond package. Mueller has also raised concerns that the bail guarantor Gates offered was also serving as a surety for a business associate of Gates who is currently facing charges of a fraudulent film investment scheme. It is unclear how close Gates is to reaching an agreement with Mueller on a bail package.
Trump: You know thats me, dont you. I have over $100billion and I WILL pardon him anyway.
He’ll be gone to Russia soon enough.
I would not want to be those people. Because a lot more is going to come out before trial. (And remember, a pardon at this point would be the equivalent of a flip. Manafort could be compelled to act as a witness.)
More fodder for Trump’s delusion that this “Meuller Thing” will wrap up by the end of the year, and will exonerate Trump in the process.
Heh. It isn’t the point, but the timing is almost like a slow boiling troll of the WH - and the main man who increasingly seems in need of a straight jacket.
No bail is generally not the standard for the types of crimes that Manafort was indicted for, so this isn’t surprising. But I doubt this would’ve happened without some back and forth between attorneys about gestures of good will for a cooperation and perhaps a plea.