After Mr. Gates and Mr. Manafort were indicted, a former national security adviser and a foreign policy aide to Mr. Trump have pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. In each instance, according to the indictment, Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates altered financial statements for their consulting business to make it easier for Mr. Manafort to qualify for mortgages. In a message cited in the indictment, Mr. Manafort appears to ask Mr. Yohai to help in a ruse to make it seem that he was living in a building owned by Mr. Manafort, thereby comporting with information Mr. Manafort had put on a mortgage application. Mr. Manafort has maintained that he only briefly attended the meeting, which was arranged by Mr. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. But just two months later, questions arose about money Mr. Manafort had received from his work in Ukraine, and Mr. Manafort stepped aside.

Source: New York Times February 22, 2018 21:52 UTC