He's going to run...

Manafort strikes $11 million bail deal with prosecutors

Four properties are to be pledged as part of an arrangement to guarantee his appearance at trial.

By JOSH GERSTEIN and DARREN SAMUELSOHN

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has reached an $11 million bail agreement with prosecutors that could clear the way for him to be released from the house arrest he's been under for the past four weeks.

In court filings released Thursday afternoon, Manafort's defense attorneys revealed "an agreed-upon bail package" with lawyers from special counsel Robert Mueller's office, which obtained an indictment last month charging Manafort and business partner Rick Gates with money laundering and failing to register as foreign agents.

The deal involves the pledging of four properties: Manafort's Alexandria, Virginia, condominium where he's been under home detention, his Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, home, a condo in Manhattan and another property in Bridgehampton, New York.

Manafort's defense team said the properties are worth more than $11 million, after existing mortgages are deducted.

"The Defendant will execute an agreement to forfeit four (4) separate real properties if there is a bail violation with a total estimated net value (i.e., fair market value less encumbrances) of approximately $11.65 million. The OSC has agreed that the properties posted provide the reasonable assurance required under the Bail Reform Act," Manafort lawyers Kevin Downing and Tom Zehnle wrote.

The bail package, subject to approval by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, would end the home detention Manafort was ordered into after his arraignment on Oct. 30. Jackson on Thursday also ordered Mueller’s office to give its position in writing on the Manafort bail package.

Both the prosecution and defense also propose ending GPS monitoring of Manafort, something Jackson said she was reluctant to do during a hearing earlier this month.

Under the proposal, Manafort would be permitted to travel in Virginia, New York, Florida and Washington, D.C., with other domestic travel requiring permission from the court.

Manafort's lawyers said he will not seek to travel abroad while the case is pending. He's already surrendered three passports, but the new filing discloses that his wife Kathleen Manafort will turn over her passport as well. She has not been charged in the case.

Kathleen Manafort is also offering to guarantee payment of the $10 million bond if her husband were to flee.

Paul Manafort's attorneys had previously proposed pledging his Trump Tower apartment, but prosecutors questioned the value of that property and it was not mentioned in the new filings.

At a Nov. 6 hearing, prosecutor Greg Andres predicted that the bond arrangement for Manafort would be settled within 48 hours. Instead, discussions dragged on for weeks.

Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni declined additional comment about the bail deal.

Manafort's co-defendant, Rick Gates, is also under home detention in Richmond, Virginia. Prosecutors proposed a $5 million bond in his case.

Gates' attorneys attempted to begin the process of pledging Gates' Richmond home last week, but Jackson said she needed a more formal proposal before diving into the issue.

In a separate motion Thursday, Gates’s attorney requested the court allow him a brief release from home detention Saturday afternoon “so that he may attend his daughter’s first competition in a particular event.”

“While Mr. Gates does not intend to seek modification of his release conditions for every event in which his children participate, he believes this competition is an especially important event to support,” Gates’s attorney, Shanlon Wu, wrote Jackson.

Both Manafort and Gates last week were cleared to leave their homes for Thanksgiving, and Jackson on Wednesday gave Gates the OK to travel overnight to Washington to meet with his attorneys so long as he keeps wearing his GPS device, provides the court with details of where he’s staying and stops en route only “at gas stations and at rest stops.” Jackson had previously denied multiple requests by Gates to attend weekend events with his family, to drive his children to and from school and their extracurricular activities, and to travel and meet with prospective lobbying clients in Washington.