Member of Trump's inner circle faces questions about money laundering over $1.5 million loan to Manafort

The links between disgraced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the president's billionaire ally Tom Barrack keep getting stronger.

As The Intercept noted on Monday, Barrack admitted to loaning Manafort $1.5 million in mid-October, before the latter was indicted on 12 charges related to his murky dealings with rich (and often hostile) foreign figures.

In an October 11 Washington Post interview, Barrack is painted as the figure who convinced Trump to hire his long-time friend and business associate Manafort. He also admitted to loaning the one-time campaign chairman millions "to refinance a home in the Hamptons" after the housing crisis of 2007.

Though Barrack claimed the loan was repaid within 14 months and was their "only financial transaction," that admission "takes on new significance" in light of revelations stemming from Manafort's indictment, according to The Intercept.

"The transaction could be entirely innocent and distinct from his alleged criminal scheme, but it fits into the pattern of loans described in Manafort’s indictment," the website said.

A report published by The Guardian earlier in November also claims that Barrack not only consolidated "1.76 million in previous loans" related to Manafort's Hamptons house, but that he also gave him an additional loan of $382,002.98 in 2004, which he claims was paid off in full in 2016.

The day after Manafort was indicted, The Intercept published an article claiming that prosecutors knew for months about Manafort's "money-laundering scheme," which included personal loans like Barrack's.

Barrack's lawyers responded to The Intercept claiming the loan was actually given to Manafort's wife, and that the private equity firm chief didn't know about the scheme.