Politico and other sources are out tonight with another chapter in a busy day from Team Mueller.
Politico is reporting that Mueller and his team have informed the Federal judge handling the Manafort bail proceedings that additional bank fraud has been found related to one of the mortgages associated with Manafort’s bond agreement.
According to the report:
“The filing by Mueller’s office says Manafort obtained a mortgage using “doctored profit and loss statements” overstating “by millions of dollars” the income for his consulting company, DMP International. Prosecutors appear to be referring to a $9.5 million mortgage that Federal Savings Bank of Chicago extended in late 2016 to a Manafort-linked firm, Summerbreeze LLC.”
The filing also mentions “conspiracies” associated with the alleged fraud, but no additional details are given.
It appears Mueller and his team have been accumulating information about some less than above-board dealings by Manafort and his associates during and since his contentious bail hearings, and are now using this information to “tighten the screws” on Manafort, along with recent rumors that a plea deal is imminent with Manafort’s close associate, Rick Gates.
As we know, plea deals are commonly reserved only for instances where prosecutors know that the defendant is able to corroborate existing theories for prosecution of someone more important to the prosecution than those making the deal. It is reasonable to conclude in this case that because Mueller’s team has not yet, and has not indicated it will, add more criminal charges based on these allegations, that Mueller is still hoping to coerce Manafort to agree to a deal as well. If that is indeed the case, the number of potential targets more prominent than Manafort is small, and would be limited to the occupant of the Oval Office and his family (as well as VP Mike Pence). This development, in the manner it has been reported, gives us the clearest indication yet that simply “flipping” Gates is not the end goal for Mueller, and that Manafort’s cooperation could yet still be the final tipping point for a path to prosecution against Trump and family for money laundering — considered by Steve Bannon to be “the road to Trump’s downfall”.
Interesting Friday.