WASHINGTON (CN) – A Trump Tower condo that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort once called home was not his to forfeit in plea deal struck with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to a motion filed in federal court Thursday.
According to the 7-page motion filed in Washington, D.C., UBS Group AG wants to block the forfeiture of Manafort’s 43rd-floor, 1,500-square-foot condo because the onetime lobbyist defaulted on his mortgage there.
Manafort purchased the condo in 2006 through a shell company known as John Hannah LLC for roughly $3.7 million.
In 2015, he transferred ownership of the unit from John Hannah to himself and put the home up as collateral on a $3 million loan he secured from UBS Bank USA.
According to the bank, Manafort owed roughly $110,000 in fees and interest plus attorneys fees when he defaulted.
The bank also claims it wasn’t aware the property would be up for forfeiture when it loaned Manafort the $3 million.
Representing the bank, attorney Stephanie Brooker of the Washington, D.C.-based firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, asked U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday to grant a hearing for the bank and consider blocking the government’s seizure of the property.
Manafort’s attorney, Kevin Downing, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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