Ex-Trump aide Manafort indicted on conspiracy, money laundering charges

Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager for US President Donald Trump, and an associate were indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 counts including conspiracy against the United States and money laundering, the federal special counsel's office said on Monday.

The charges were the first arising from the investigation by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed to look into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election campaign aimed at swaying the vote in favor of Trump.

Manafort and Rick Gates, a business partner who served as his deputy in the Trump campaign, were charged on Friday in the District of Columbia in an indictment unsealed on Monday after the two men surrendered to the FBI, the special counsel said in a statement.

"The indictment contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts," the statement said.

FARA is an acronym for Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The indictment said Manafort and Gates generated tens of millions of dollars of income from work for Ukrainian political parties and leaders and laundered money through US and foreign entities to hide payments between 2006 and at least 2016.

The two concealed their work and revenue as agents of Ukrainian political parties, it said.

Manafort and Gates will be taken to the federal district courthouse, a FBI spokesman told Reuters.

Manafort earlier was told to surrender to federal law enforcement authorities according to two media reports CNN and the New York Times reported, each citing a source with knowledge of the matter.

Manafort, 68, served the Trump campaign from June to August of 2016 before resigning amid reports he may have received millions in illegal payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

Mueller has been investigating Manafort’s financial and real estate dealings and his prior work for that political group, the Party of Regions, which backed former Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich.

Investigators also examined potential money laundering by Manafort and other possible financial crimes, sources have told Reuters.

Gates was a long-time business partner of Manafort and has ties to many of the same Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. He also served as deputy to Manafort during his brief tenure as Trump’s campaign chairman.

Trump has denied any allegations of collusion with the Russians and called the probe "a witch hunt." The Kremlin also has denied the allegations.