Manafort’s business associates summoned by Manhattan prosecutors as Trump campaign probe widens

Paul Manafort's bankers and business associates have been summoned to New York to meet with prosecutors.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office has issued subpoenas for documents related to Manafort's financial transactions and is now interviewing the former Trump campaign chairman's lenders, reported Bloomberg Politics.

The U.S. attorney for Manhattan has also examined the Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank operated by Stephen Calk, who was named as an economic adviser to the Trump campaign in August 2016 -- the same month Manafort stepped down as campaign chairman.

The district attorney's office wants to know how deeply Calk, the bank's CEO, was involved in loans made to benefit Manafort, and whether those funds were used for their stated purpose, Bloomberg reported.

Calk's bank specializes in loans to military service members, veterans and first-time home buyers, but since last year made three loans worth $16 million that benefitted Manafort.

The district attorney's office is scheduling interviews with 10 to 20 of Manafort's business associates and lenders.

Manafort and his longtime business associate Rick Gates, who also served on the Trump campaign, were indicted last month on money laundering and other charges as part of the special counsel probe into Russian election interference.

They're also under investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office is investigating money laundering in a separate probe.

Representatives for Manafort, Calk and Federal Savings Bank declined to comment on the Vance investigation.