Judge Appears Ready To Release Manafort From House Arrest

UNITED STATES - JULY 19: Paul Manafort, advisor to Donald Trump, is seen on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 19, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll... UNITED STATES - JULY 19: Paul Manafort, advisor to Donald Trump, is seen on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 19, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS

The judge in his criminal case has indicated that Paul Manafort had assembled a bail package that meets her requirements for releasing him from the home confinement he’s been under for the last month and a half.

In court filings Friday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson requested that Manafort’s attorneys submit one more round of financial documents to assure the court that his proposed bail guarantors — his wife and his daughter — could put up the bond being offered. Once those documents have been filed, Jackson said, she would release Manafort to travel back to Florida, where he has a home and where he will allowed to move freely in the South Florida area.

He would be allowed to travel to Washington D.C. for court appearances, but travel to D.C. for other reasons and to other domestic locations must get court approval, Jackson indicated. International travel would be prohibited.

Manafort’s attorneys had initially asked that he be allowed to travel freely between Florida, the D.C. area and New York, citing his need to earn a living.

Manafort has offered four properties he owns or co-owns as bail. As part of the proposed package, his wife Kathleen and his daughter Andrea will serve as guarantors to cover any shortfall between the properties’ worth and the $10 million in bail the court is seeking.

Manafort turned himself in to the FBI on Oct. 30, facing charges of money laundering, tax evasion and failing to disclose foreign lobbying as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Manafort’s bail negotiations had been bogged down by claims by Mueller’s team that it was struggling to confirm his net worth. Additionally, earlier this month he was accused of violating a court’s gag order on the case by allegedly ghostwriting an op-ed defending his lobbying work in Ukraine.

The judge scolded Manafort this week for his participation in the op-ed, but let the bail negotiations move forward.

Read the court filing below:

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  1. Let’s start a pool: How long before the FBI cuffs him as he tries to flee the country?

  2. They’ll let him go. Then he gets the black bag over the head on some far-away tarmac or dock (more likely).

  3. “…$10 million in bail…”

    How much is that in rubles?

  4. They wouldn’t be letting go if he hadn’t already sung. He’ll need bodyguards not only to protect him from the gators, but from the revenge-driven cabal he’s been a member of.

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