Manafort associate Stephen Calk charged with soliciting a Trump administration position
WASHINGTON — On Thursday morning, Stephen M. Calk, the CEO of Federal Savings Bank, was charged by federal prosecutors with attempting to solicit a Trump administration position in exchange for $16 million in loans to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Calk is charged with one count of financial institution bribery, which could lead to a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Deputy U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss alleges that Calk approved "millions of dollars in high-risk loans in an effort to secure a personal benefit, namely an appointment as Secretary of the Army or another similarly high-level position in the incoming presidential administration.
Calk surrendered to federal authorities on Thursday morning, following a federal probe into Manafort's business dealings. The indictment alleges that, between July 2016 and January 2017, Calk granted millions of dollars of high-risk loans to Manafort to prevent him from going into foreclosure. At the time, Manafort was serving as the chair of Trump's presidential campaign and then continued to serve as an informal advisor to the Trump presidential campaign.
More: Paul Manafort trial: Bank fast-tracked loan as Trump chairman discussed cabinet posts for CEO
Calk tried to use this position to secure a position in the Trump administration. He gave Manafort a "ranked list of the governmental positions he desired, which started with Secretary of the Treasury, and was followed by Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, and Secretary of Defense." Calk also sought 19 ambassadorships, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy.
Manafort appointed Calk as an economic advisor to the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016, days after Calk and his bank approved a $9.5 million loan to Manafort. And in late 2016, after Trump had been elected president, and while $6 million in loans to Manafort were pending, Manafort recommended Calk for a position in the Trump administration.
In January 2017, the Trump transition team interviewed Calk for Under Secretary of the Army at the Trump transition headquarters at Trump Tower in New York but ultimately did not appoint him to the position.
Calk's indictment follows Manafort's sentencing to 7.5 years in prison for cheating banks and the federal government out of millions of dollars. Manafort's case was one of the 34 other indictments delivered as a result of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
According to FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr., Calk's "attempt at petitioning for political favors was unsuccessful in more ways than one – he didn’t get the job he wanted, and he compromised the one he had.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Manafort associate Stephen Calk charged with soliciting a Trump administration position
