Paul Manafort To Lose NYC Homes In Reported Plea Deal

CARROLL GARDENS, BROOKLYN — Paul Manafort is set to lose his two New York City properties as part of a reported plea deal that includes his cooperation with the investigation of Russian election interference.

The federal government will seize President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman's Carroll Gardens brownstone and SoHo condominium now that he's pleaded guilty to conspiracy and witness-tampering in Washington, D.C. federal court, a court filing indicates.

Prosecutors last fall first accused Manafort of using money from secret offshore bank accounts to buy the homes at 377 Union St. in Brooklyn and 29 Howard St. in Manhattan. He also lied to a bank to get a $5 million loan to renovate the Carroll Gardens property, prosecutors have said.

A Virginia jury convicted Manafort of eight tax and bank fraud charges last month, but couldn't reach a verdict on 10 other counts in the first case brought in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The special counsel's office filed a new criminal information Friday in Washington, D.C. federal court that only charges Manafort with two additional crimes. In addition to cooperation with Mueller's investigation, his plea deal includes a 10-year cap on his possible prison sentence and gets him out of a second criminal trial, according to Politico.

But Manafort still has to forfeit his city properties to the federal government upon conviction of the conspiracy charge, as well as his homes in the Hamptons and Arlington, Virginia, the new information says.

Neighbors reportedly complained that Manafort's Brooklyn brownstone, located on Union Street between Hoyt and Smith streets, had become an eyesore. The house has a market value of about $3.8 million, city records show.

City officials slapped the home with a stop-work order in November after a contractor installed a sprinkler system without a permit. A suspicious box that reportedly had the words "American Fascism" written on it was found outside the house in July.

(Lead image: Paul Manafort's brownstone at 377 Union St. in Carroll Gardens. Photo by Marc Torrence/Patch)