US judge apologizes to prosecutors in former Trump aide Manafort's trial

BANK FRAUD

Manafort has pleaded not guilty to 18 felony charges of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to disclose some 30 foreign bank accounts. He is the first person to be tried on charges brought by Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

Prosecutors said they plan to conclude their case on Friday.

It is not clear whether Manafort will call any witnesses in his defense.

After wrapping up the tax portion of their case, prosecutors have moved on to bankers who were involved in extending Manafort loans during his scramble to generate cash in 2015 and 2016 after work dried up following a loss of business in Ukraine.

Melinda James, a mortgage assistant at Citizens Bank,testified Thursday that Manafort provided incorrect information in applying for a $3.4 million loan on a Manhattan condominium that was granted on March 4, 2016.

She said Manafort did not disclose that a brownstone he owned in Brooklyn had a mortgage against it and indicated the Manhattan condominium was a second residence, when it was listed for rent. Both moves improved the loan terms, James said.

Earlier this week Gates testified Manafort directed him to present banks with false documents, including an inflated profit report for Manafort's consulting company, DMP International,LLC, to get the loans. Defense lawyers have made blaming Gates,Manafort's right-hand man for a decade, a key plank of theirdefense.

Manafort lawyer Jay Nanavati appeared to make some progress toward that goal on Thursday. Under his cross-examination, James acknowledged it was Gates, using an old insurance document, who ultimately misled her about whether there was a mortgage on the brownstone days before the loan on the condominium closed.

Taryn Rodriguez, a loan officer assistant at Citizens Bank,testified about an application for a $5.5 million construction loan on the brownstone that was ultimately denied.

She said Manafort failed to disclose a multi-million dollar mortgage already taken out on the property and a $1 million business loan from the Banc of California, both of which would have affected any new loan. Rodriguez said she discovered the mortgage by researching a New York City database of property records.

Gary Seferian, a senior vice president at the Banc of California, said his bank gave Manafort the $1 million loan to rehabilitate and flip properties in the Los Angeles area, in part based on a financial statement for DMP International showing a profit of more than $4 million for 2015.

Prosecutor Uzo Asonye asked if Manafort would have qualified for the loan if he had known DMP's profit for that year was in fact $400,000. "I don't think so," Seferian said.

Reuters