US Supreme Court rejects appeal by banker tied to Trump ex-aide Manafort

(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear an appeal by a Chicago bank’s former CEO who was convicted of bribery after approving $16 million in risky loans to Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, in a bid to land a senior job in Trump’s administration.

The justices turned away the appeal by Stephen Calk, a former chairman and chief executive of Federal Savings Bank, of a lower court’s decision to uphold his conviction and prison sentence of one year and one day.

Prosecutors said Manafort, after obtaining the loans in 2016, recommended to the team that Trump put together to find people to fill top administration jobs after he won the election that November that Calk be nominated as U.S. Army secretary, the military service’s top civilian job.

Calk, 59, had served as an Army reservist for 16 years. He eventually was interviewed by the Trump team in January 2017 for the position of Army under secretary but was not chosen.

A federal jury in Manhattan convicted Calk in 2021 of financial institution bribery and conspiracy.

Audrey Strauss, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan at the time, said Calk used his federally insured bank as a “personal piggybank to try and buy himself prestige and power.”

Calk’s sentence also included two years of supervised release, 800 hours of community service and a $1.25 million fine.

The Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Calk’s conviction and sentence in November 2023.

In his Supreme Court appeal, Calk said the conduct for which he was convicted should not be considered corrupt under a federal anti-bribery law because Manafort’s assistance was not a “thing of value” worth a specific dollar amount.

Calk said the 2nd Circuit decision created a split with four other federal appellate courts that found the term “thing of value” does not mean anything a recipient subjectively values. Calk also said the 2nd Circuit erred in finding he could have been corrupt by acting with an “improper purpose,” if he honestly believed his actions were in the bank’s best interest.

In opposing Calk’s appeal, the U.S. Justice Department said that “anything of value” can include intangible items, not merely items with a dollar value, and that Calk’s claim that appeals courts were divided was “misplaced.”

It also said corruption does not require an intentional breach by Calk of a legal duty to his bank.

Manafort, a veteran Republican operative, was convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud in 2018 and sentenced to 7-1/2 years in prison, and later released to home confinement.

Trump pardoned him in December 2020, four weeks before his presidency ended. Trump is now the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 U.S. election, facing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. (This story has been refiled to add the dropped word ‘court’ in the headline)