2017-08-09nytimes.com

Investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, recently searched the Northern Virginia home of President Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, for tax documents and foreign banking records, a sign that the inquiry into Mr. Manafort has broadened, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The search was carried out at Mr. Manafort's Alexandria, Va., home shortly after Mr. Manafort met with investigators for the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 25. In that meeting, Mr. Manafort answered questions and provided investigators with notes from a 2016 meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians claiming to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

...

Until now, it was only known that Mr. Manafort was under investigation for his business dealings with his son-in-law, his role in the 2016 meeting between Trump campaign officials and the Russians and whether his work for the Ukranian government violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

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But the search warrant for the tax and foreign banking records suggests that investigators are looking at criminal charges related to the federal Bank Secrecy Act, which requires Americans to report their foreign banking accounts.

As we picked up yesterday, Trump has "yooge" violations that include the Bank Secrecy Act, which raise questions of foreign money laundering. We always thought it a high probability that the investigations of Manafort might grow to encompass Trump, so we aren't surprised to see this. And Manafort was, like most Trump associates after all, not someone he "just met recently" (as he almost always lies, even when his own past public statements are to the contrary).



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