Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime business partner Rick Gates were told to surrender to federal authorities on Monday as the first to be charged in a special counsel investigation.
News broke Friday that a federal grand jury had approved the first charges in the wide-ranging Russia investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. CNN reported Manafort will turn himself in to the FBI on Monday.
Mr. Gates is a longtime protégé and junior partner of Mr. Manafort. His name appears on documents linked to companies that Mr. Manafort's firm set up in Cyprus to receive payments from politicians and businesspeople in Eastern Europe, records reviewed by the New York Times show.
Mr. Manafort had been under investigation for violations of federal tax law, money laundering, and whether he appropriately disclosed his foreign lobbying.
Attempts to reach Mr. Gates on Monday were not successful. A spokesman for Mr. Manafort did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The indictment against Manafort and Gates contains 12 counts, including conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false statements, false and misleading FARA statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.
Just in from Special Counsel: pic.twitter.com/fn1EbvaJnX
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) October 30, 2017
CNBC noted the charges come five months after Mueller began the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, a quicker pace than typical special counsel investigations. Politico found it usually takes an average of 17 months to bring charges.
Mueller was appointed special counsel by the Justice Department in May, shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.
Manafort joined the Trump campaign in March of 2016 and took over after the ouster of Corey Lewandowski, but he was forced out by August amid clashes with the candidate.
UPDATED Monday, 9:13 A.M.: This story was updated with details on the indictment against Manafort and Gates.