President Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, reached an $11 million bail agreement this week after he was indicted in late October as part of Special Counsel Robert Muller's ongoing investigation, Politico reports. Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, have been under strict house arrest because Mueller's team believed the pair were flight risks and likely to destroy evidence once they found out criminal charges had been filed. By reaching the bail agreement, Manafort has cleared his way to be released for some domestic travel.
In order to post the bond, though, Manafort's deal required him to pledge four properties — the Virginia condominium where he's been serving his detention, a Florida home, a Manhattan condo, and a Bridgehampton, New York, home. Curiously absent from the list was Manafort's Trump Tower apartment, which his attorneys proposed pledging in early filings. Alas, "prosecutors questioned the value of that property and it was not mentioned in the new filings," Politico writes.
Manafort's wife, who has not been charged, additionally forfeited her passport as reassurance and agreed to a guaranteed payment of $10 million if her husband were to flee. Manafort and Gates were indicted on 12 counts, including charges of money laundering and making false statements to the Justice Department.
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