Ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort agrees to tentative plea deal

The former head of Donald Trump’s election campaign, Paul Manafort, has agreed to a tentative plea deal with US Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the ABC TV channel has reported.

According to the broadcaster, the deal will be officially announced on Friday, September 14. However, it is yet unclear whether Manafort was ready to cooperate with prosecutors or simply conceded to a guilty plea to avoid the extra stress and expense of trial, ABC said citing own sources with the knowledge of the discussions.

About the case
Manafort, 69, is the defendant in two court proceedings - in Virginia and in the District of Columbia. Earlier a jury in Virginia found him guilty on eight out of 18 charges that include hiding foreign bank accounts, fraud with his income taxes, money laundering and tax evasion, including while working in Ukraine.

In the US capital, the former assistant Trump is accused of "collusion against the US", "laundering" more than $ 30 mln, giving false testimony, failing to comply with laws on disclosing information about lobbying Ukraine's interests and working as an unregistered foreign agent. The second trial is due to begin on September 24.

Manafort joined the Trump election headquarters in March 2016, headed it in June, but on August 19 he was fired after Kiev accused him of illegally receiving large sums of money from 2007 to 2012.