Banker Stephen Calk bribed Paul Manafort while he was looking for a job in the Trump administration

The ploy outlined by prosecutors occurred between July 2016 and January 2017, when Manafort requested millions of loans to Calk in order to terminate or avoid foreclosure proceedings on properties that Manafort and its family owned, including a house in Bridgehampton, New York, and a brownstone. Brooklyn

Despite the indictment, Calk had asked the bank to grant these loans, believing that Manafort "could use his influence with the presidential transition team to help President Manafort to put up "important red flags" in the financial history of Manafort.Calk in obtaining a senior management position. "

Calk, 54, has an unusual influence on the lending process at Federal Savings because he is not only the CEO but also the majority owner of the bank's owning holding company and sits on the credit committee approving the type. loans granted to Manafort. .

Manafort's debt became the largest in the bank and, in order to allow the bank to issue large borrowings without breaching its legal loan limit to a single borrower, Calk asked the holding company to acquire a part of the loans from the bank.

A few days after Calk and the committee approved the first loan, Manafort appointed Calk to the Advisory Council of the Economy, a prestigious committee affiliated with the Trump campaign, according to the indictment. By the end of 2016, after Trump's election and when Manafort had applied for a second round of loans, Calk had forced the bank to reconsider its decision not to take out a restructured loan of $ 9.5 million and to approve the total loan amount for Manafort. Before closing the loan, Calk asked a loan officer at the bank to call Manafort to ask him if Calk was running for a top administrator position, according to the attorneys. The credit officer did not accede to Calk's request.

A few days later Calk sent Manafort his professional biography and a misspelt document entitled "Stephen M. Calk Perspective Rolls in the [Presidential] Administration.docx, "which lists the desired positions, including 10 positions in the Cabinet and other executive positions.A few hours later, Calk asks Manafort to help with the transition.When Manafort responds that He does it, Calk says: "Awesome".

Manafort recommended Calk to Trump's transition committee for a position in the administration, prosecutors said. His efforts resulted in Calk receiving an official interview on January 10, 2017 as Deputy Secretary of the Army at Transition Committee headquarters, where he was interviewed by three representatives of the transition team, according to the indictment. But he never had the job.

The Calk saga was unfolded during the Manafort trial in Virginia, where prosecutors found witnesses to describe how the Calk bank had handled and granted the loans to Manafort. A vice president of the bank said that Calk was a "conspirator" with Manafort, who had "participated in the plot to defraud the bank." "

Kushner answered Manafort, "on it!" but Calk never saw himself offer a post after Trump took office.

Calk had also identified 19 potential ambassadors, including missions such as Italy, France and the United Kingdom, which Calk considered good because he "grew up in London", according to documents revealed during the trial of Manafort.