2/21/2018
New charges have been filed in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and aide Rick Gates. The charges were put under seal by the court, hiding the details and nature of the charges.
Both Manafort and Gates have pleaded not guilty to previous charges. However, there were rumors that Gates was about to plead guilty last week, and would testify against Manafort. That plea has yet to be recorded. The new charges may reflect Gates decision not to plea guilty and to cooperate with the investigation. Their attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Last week, prosecutors stated they had received new evidence that Manafort took part in “a series of bank frauds and bank fraud conspiracies” in connection with a loan he sought in 2016. Mueller’s team said Manafort obtained the loan using “doctored profit and loss statements” that overstated “by millions of dollars” the income of his consulting business.
The bank fraud allegations were disclosed in a bail-related court filing made public on Friday that did not contain any indication of what action, if any, Mueller’s team planned to take over the alleged fraud.
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