LEGAL/PAUL MANAFORT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The trial of Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, is expected to shift focus on Thursday [8-9-18] from his alleged tax evasion to bank fraud as the prosecution’s case heads into its final two days. Prosecutors are expected to call a series of bankers to the stand to question them about Manafort’s alleged efforts to mislead them with doctored financial statements in a scramble in 2015 and 2016 to borrow against real estate. Of the 18 felony charges Manafort faces, nine relate to bank fraud and involve mortgages from Citizens Bank, Banc of California, Genesis Capital, and the Federal Savings Bank, a small Chicago lender whose chief executive was named to an economic advisory panel to the Trump campaign. Greg Andres, a prosecutor working for U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, told the court on Wednesday that the prosecution would call eight more witnesses, question each for roughly an hour, and was on track to wrap up its case by week’s end.”
–Nathan Layne, Sarah N. Lynch, Karen Freifeld, “Manafort trial focus shifts to bank fraud as prosecutors near end of case,” Reuters, August 9, 2018 3:02 am