WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New sealed criminal charges have been filed in federal court in the criminal case brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and campaign aide Rick Gates, a court record indicated on Wednesday.
The single-page document, filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, did not reveal the nature of the new charges.
Its inclusion in a binder in the court clerk’s office that is routinely updated with new criminal charges signals that Mueller’s office may have filed a superseding indictment replacing a previous one from last year against the two men.
Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign manager for almost five months in 2016, and Gates, who was deputy campaign manager, were indicted by Mueller’s office in October. They face charges including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud the United States and failure to file as foreign agents for lobbying work they did on behalf of the pro-Russian Ukrainian Party of Regions. Both have pleaded not guilty.
It was unclear when any new charges would be announced publicly.
Last Friday, Mueller’s office revealed in a court filing that it had uncovered “additional criminal conduct” by Manafort in connection with a series of “bank frauds and bank fraud conspiracies” related to a mortgage on his property in Fairfax, Virginia, a Washington suburb.
The Special Counsel’s office declined to comment on the new court filing. Attorneys for Manafort and Gates could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment.
Mueller is probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia and whether the Republican president has unlawfully sought to obstruct the investigation. Russia denies the allegations. Trump denies any collusion.
Manafort has been under house arrest since he was charged. He and prosecutors have struggled to agree on bail terms to permit him to leave his home, though some of those details have remained under seal.
However, on Friday, Mueller’s office revealed that it is concerned about alleged bank fraud in connection with one of the properties that Manafort pledged as collateral.
In Friday’s filing, prosecutors claimed that Manafort secured his mortgage from the Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank by doctoring profit and loss statements from his lobbying firm and “overstating its income by millions of dollars.”
Prosecutors said they plan to offer the court more evidence about the alleged misconduct at the next bail hearing.
The Federal Savings Bank is led by Stephen Calk, who served on a Trump campaign economic advisory panel. Calk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mueller on Tuesday stepped up pressure on Manafort and Gates to cooperate in his investigation, unsealing a criminal charge against a Dutch lawyer, Alex van der Zwaan, for lying to Mueller’s investigators.
The charge arises from work that van der Zwaan, the son-in-law of one of Russia’s richest men, did on a 2012 report about the trial of Ukraine’s former prime minister while he was employed as a lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
The report was used to justify the pre-trial detention of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko by her rival, and Manafort’s client, pro-Russian former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Manafort and Gates lobbied in connection with the rollout of the report, and are accused by Mueller’s office of facilitating secret payments for the report through off-shore bank accounts.
Mueller’s office last Friday also indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies for their alleged involvement in a criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign to support Trump and disparage Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Karen Freifeld; Editing by Will Dunham
Special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in New York are examining as much as $16 million in loans that a bank run by a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump made to former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to court filings and a person familiar with the two investigations.
The investigation by Mr. Mueller’s team is centered on whether the loans from Federal Savings Bank, a small bank in Chicago run by chief executive Steve Calk, were made as part of a quid pro quo arrangement to secure Mr. Calk a job in Mr. Trump’s administration, the person said.
The investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is focused on possible money laundering, and the two probes are intertwined, the person said.
A spokesman for Mr. Manafort said, “I don’t comment on rumors.” Mr. Calk didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Calk, who was a member of the Trump campaign’s economic advisory panel and overlapped with Mr. Manafort on the campaign, said last year the loans to Mr. Manafort were “absolutely not” related to his role in the campaign.
Around the time his bank made the Manafort loans in late 2016 and early 2017—for several properties including a Brooklyn townhouse—Mr. Calk was seeking to become Mr. Trump’s Army secretary, according to three people briefed on the interactions, The Wall Street Journal reported last year.
Mr. Calk was placing calls to the Pentagon and specifically to Army headquarters, asking for briefings to obtain information and prepare himself for a possible job, according to a person familiar with the inquiries. Mr. Calk’s overtures raised questions among military leaders as to how to respond, this person said.
Mr. Calk, a veteran whose bank caters to former members of the military, didn’t get the Army job.
The Journal subsequently reported that the Justice Department had sought Mr. Manafort’s banking records as part of a possible money-laundering probe.
The Mueller team’s examination of a possible quid pro quo arrangement between Messrs. Manafort and Calk was reported by NBC News earlier on Wednesday.
Mr. Manafort and a longtime business associate, Richard Gates, were indicted in late October by the special counsel’s office on charges of conspiring against the U.S., money laundering, failing to file reports on foreign bank and financial accounts, and making false statements connected to their work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Mueller’s team indicated in a court filing last week that it had uncovered “additional criminal conduct” concerning some of the loans on Mr. Manafort’s properties from Mr. Calk’s bank.
“That criminal conduct includes a series of bank frauds and bank fraud conspiracies” related to property in Fairfax, Va., the filing said.
“The government has secured substantial evidence that Manafort secured this mortgage from The Federal Savings Bank through a series of false and fraudulent representations to The Federal Savings Bank,” the filing said, adding that Mr. Manafort gave the bank “doctored” financial statements for his company for 2015 and 2016 in which he overstated its income by millions of dollars.
Mr. Mueller’s office has been conducting its probe in collaboration with the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which has had a continuing investigation into Mr. Manafort and possible money laundering, the Journal reported in October.
Write to Erica Orden at erica.orden@wsj.com and Michael Rothfeld at michael.rothfeld@wsj.com
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