It's so strange that Citizens Bank didn't run a check on Manafort's property to look for mortgages.

[pnwmom]

Why didn't the bank have a title search run on the property, to make sure the title was clear and there were no prior liens? Whoever heard of that not being done?

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/manafort-trial/index.html

Gates also described in detail how he sent an out-of-date insurance policy to a bank to prove a Manafort-owned property had no mortgage on it, when current documents would have shown it did.

Citizens Bank had questioned whether it could loan Manafort money backed by a property that the bank thought was already encumbered.

"Mr. Manafort had asked me to submit the prior year's policy," Gates explained to the jury Tuesday. "The circles are now squared," Gates wrote to Manafort in an email in 2016 about convincing the bank there was no mortgage on Manafort's Union Street property.

[guillaumeb]

1. Different rules for the rich?

Trump's entire business history demonstrates that.

[Achilleaze]

12. republicans think they are "special"

They don't do honor, integrity, truth, that kind of stuff. They do republican stuff. They think they are "special."

[orangecrush]

2. Kick and Rec

[PJMcK]

3. Didn't Manafort have an inside man?

Wasn't there a guy who wanted a job in the Trump administration and he green-lighted Manafort's loans for three of his properties?

His name is Steve Calk and here's an article from TPM:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/manafort-emails-gates-to-discussbanker-for-army-secretary

[lapfog_1]

5. yup... this

[C-SPAN4me]

6. Wrong bank

Calk was "one" of the inside guys at a bank in Chicago. Not Citizens Bank. So, a different instance of bank AND insurance fraud.

[PJMcK]

13. Thanks

The many diverse webs of deceit are sometimes difficult to unravel.

Sorry for my mistake!

[bettyellen]

7. Probably did at this banks also, but that was another one. Maybe he just threw out some powerful

Names to get the fraudulent loan approved. That’s happened with other people very close to famous politicians.

[PJMcK]

14. Oops, my mistake

There are too many crimes and lies to keep straight!

[bettyellen]

17. Sooo many crimes, I know!

[janx]

4. Forged documents and quid-pro-quo. n/t

[Jersey Devil]

8. Very strange indeed

Banks don't do title searches until after a commitment is issued, but they ALWAYS do them before the loan closes, so I can't understand how they could get away with mortgaging a piece of property that had an existing mortgage on it already, unless the bank was in on the fraud - hmm.

[3Hotdogs]

9. The title search would be on property he is buying or re-financing, Not on property

used for collateral.

[Jersey Devil]

10. Real estate IS "property"

I have no idea what your point might be.

[pnwmom]

15. He WAS re-financing it. And it would be financially crazy not to run a title search

on property used for collateral.

[LiberalFighter]

11. I wonder if politicians do this too.

[redstatebluegirl]

16. We are going through the mortgage process right now and I can tell you

they must have different rules for the rich. I think they know our bathroom habits after all of the questions and searching.

[Mr. Ected]

18. The bank engages an attorney or a title company to examine the title

The question is whether this file was put in a special drawer. I can assure you, with the dollar values involved, no honest banker would fail to see the encumbrance, and no title attorney would overlook it in a title examination.

There was assuredly insider meddling at ye Olde Citizens Bank.

[gratuitous]

19. You don't understand, Jimmy

Mr. Manafort is a very good customer of Citizen's, and we're proud to have his business. He probably just sent the wrong policy by mistake. Sign off on that part of the application and do it now, or update your resume.