NBC is reporting that the Mueller investigation is looking into whether Paul Manafort and his wife got $16 million in loans from a bank in exchange for giving their banker a cushy White House job.
NBC cites “two people with direct knowledge of the matter” in reporting:
Manafort received three separate loans in December 2016 and January 2017 from Federal Savings Bank for homes in New York City, Virginia and the Hamptons.
The banker, Stephen Calk, president of the Federal Savings Bank, was announced as a member of candidate Trump's Council of Economic Advisers in August 2016.
The luxury homes were apparently used as collateral, and the loans, according to a New York Times story on Manafort’s shady dealings from last April, were to “stave off a personal financial crisis stemming from failed investments with his son-in-law.” Their purpose was not provided in public records, but, per NYT:
But a review of public records suggests at least some of [the loans] are connected to efforts to salvage investments [Manafort] made with Jessica Manafort’s husband, Jeffrey Yohai, whose real estate business filed for bankruptcy in December. Mr. Yohai faces a lawsuit by another co-investor who claims he exploited his connections to Mr. Manafort “to meet numerous public figures and celebrities” and solicit investments from them; Mr. Yohai denies the accusations.
More than one bank official at Federal Savings Bank questioned the loans, and one who felt pressured to approve them is now co-operating with Mueller’s investigation, NBC quotes its sources as saying.
According to the NYT story, this lending is a little bit out of the ordinary for the bank. Normally it “focuses on affordable mortgages for military veterans,” and the $16 million comprises 5.4% of its assets.
Since Mueller’s team doesn’t seem to leak except when they want to, I suspect the reason for this reveal is to put more pressure on Manafort to flip. He can’t have handed Calk a White House job without okaying it with Lord Dampnut. Possibly also Mike Pence, since he headed up the transition.
The additional sealed charges filed today also point at an attempt to pressure Manafort into turning state’s evidence. With the flipping of Richard Gates, the plea deal of Alex Van der Zwaan, and now this, Manafort’s barrel must be getting very uncomfortable.
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