Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has been indicted on conspiracy against the US, money laundering, other charges according to the office of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Mr Manafort, and a business associate were indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 counts including conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money and violating federal lobbying and banking laws, the federal special counsel said.
"The indictment contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts," the counsel said in a statement.
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Trump has denied the allegations of collusion with the Russians and called the probe “a witch hunt.” The Kremlin also has denied the allegations.
Mueller, a former director of the FBI, has been looking into possible links between Trump aides and foreign governments, as well as potential money laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes, according to sources familiar with the probe. He also is exploring whether Trump or his aides have tried to obstruct the investigation.
Mueller was appointed to lead the investigation a week after Trump's 9 May firing of FBI Director James Comey, who was heading a federal probe into possible collusion with Russia. Trump initially said he fired Comey because his leadership of the FBI was inadequate. In a later interview with NBC, he cited “this Russia thing” as his reason.
