WASHINGTON — A Chicago bank CEO who was seeking a top job in the Trump administration overrode the objections of the bank’s president in order to green-light a $9.5 million loan for Paul Manafort in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign, a bank executive testified Monday.
The testimony came as prosecutors in Manafort’s tax- and bank-fraud trial prepared to rest their case Monday afternoon against the former Trump campaign chairman after nearly two weeks of witnesses, often presented at a breakneck speed insisted upon by U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team brought the charges against Manafort as part of its wide-ranging investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The CEO of the Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank, Stephen Calk, interceded after the president of the bank, Javier Ubarri, decided it was too risky to allow Manafort to draw the $9.5 million in funds out of equity in his Bridgehampton, N.Y. home, bank Vice President James Brennan said.
Prosecutor Greg Andres asked Brennan why the bank went through with the loan if its president was opposed to its issuance.
“It closed because Mr. Calk wanted it to close,” said Brennan, who testified pursuant to a grant of immunity from prosecution over his involvement.
Jurors heard from another bank employee last week that as Manafort was applying for the loan, Calk considered himself to be in the running for a Cabinet post, like secretary of treasury or of housing and urban development.
However, Brennan said underwriters at the bank had concerns about Manafort’s lack of income stream and his debts, including other outstanding loans and an overdue bill for $210,000 in Yankees season tickets.
“Mr. Manafort had no revenue [and] just $638,000 in expenses” in 2016 before he applied for the $9.5 million loan, the bank executive said.
Manafort claimed he had $2.4 million in income due in from a client, but the bank couldn’t verify that.
“We were not in possession of any back-up,” said Brennan, who also called Manafort’s failure to disclose loans from other banks a “definite red flag.”
Calk, the CEO, hasn’t testified in the case. Andres said at a sidebar bench conference last week that the government considers him a co-conspirator in Manafort’s alleged fraud, even though Calk owns about two-thirds of the privately held bank.
Just before jurors were ushered in Monday afternoon for Brennan’s testimony, prosecutor Greg Andres confirmed that Mueller’s team is largely finished presenting evidence in the case. Andres said that depending on a ruling from the judge, a Treasury Department official might be recalled for brief testimony about the lack of reports on Manafort’s overseas bank accounts.
Motions by the defense to dismiss some or all of the 18 counts against Manafort are expected Monday afternoon. Those will be followed by an announcement by the defense about whether it intends to call any witnesses to bolster its case.