Mueller finds evidence of potential new charge against Manafort

Special counsel Robert Mueller found new evidence that President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort committed bank fraud, according to a filing released Friday.

Manafort — who was indicted in October on charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements in connection to lobbying work for Ukraine — filed a motion to change his $10 million bail package.

“The proposed package is deficient in the government’s view, in light of additional criminal conduct that we have learned since the Court’s initial bail determination,” the filing states.

“That criminal conduct includes a series of bank frauds and bank fraud conspiracies," prosecutors wrote.

No new charges have been filed against Manafort, and it remains unclear whether Mueller’s office intends to do so.

The former campaign manager, who has been placed under house arrest, suggested putting up his Fairfax, Va., home along with three other properties to meet the conditions of his bail.

Manafort claimed the property did not have a mortgage, but prosecutors said he obtained a $9 million mortgage by handing the Federal Savings Bank doctored documents that inflated the income of his firm DMP International by millions of dollars.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the bank’s chairman Stephen Calk was an economic adviser in Trump’s campaign.

In Friday’s filing, Mueller’s office said it could turn over evidence of the criminal conduct at the next bail hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

RELATED: Lavish ways the FBI says Paul Manafort spent his millions

The new revelations came hours after the special counsel accused 13 Russians of an elaborate plot to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.

The federal indictment represents the most detailed allegations to date of illegal Russian meddling during the campaign that sent Trump to the White House.

Trump quickly claimed vindication Friday, noting in a tweet that the alleged interference efforts began in 2014 — “long before I announced that I would run for President.”

“The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong — no collusion!” he tweeted.

The indictment does not in fact resolve the collusion question at the heart of the continuing Mueller probe.

With News Wire Services

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