Bail deal for Manafort reached

WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a New Britain native, has reached a bail deal with prosecutors led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, agreeing to secure his release with four properties worth $11.6 million, forgo foreign travel and limit his travel within the United States.

In a six-page court filing backed by more than 150 pages of financial documentation, Manafort’s lawyers agreed to a forfeiture of the homes held by Manafort, his wife and with their daughter if he fails to appear in court to face charges of money laundering and fraud in connection with his work advising a Russia-friendly political party in Ukraine.

Manafort, 68, and his co-defendant, business partner Rick Gates, 45, have been under home confinement and GPS monitoring with few exceptions since pleading not guilty Oct. 30 in the first criminal allegations in Mueller’s probe of possible Russian influence in U.S. political affairs, including in the 2016 election campaign.

The deal is subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, of Washington, who ordered prosecutors Thursday afternoon to state their agreement with the proposed deal in writing. Gates has not yet announced whether he has reached agreement on bail with prosecutors or whether he would ask the judge for release without one.