Paul Manafort is registering with the U.S. government as a foreign agent

The Associated Press said one $750,000 payment Manafort's firm received was described by a Ukrainian lawmaker last month as part of a money-laundering effort that should be probed by USA authorities.

The payments in 2007 and 2009 came before Manafort became involved in Trump's campaign. In Ukraine, Manafort aligned himself with former President Viktor Yanukovych, who came to power in 2010, but then was ousted in 2014 when demonstrations gripped the country.

The claim by a Ukrainian investigator "that he has evidence of a wire transfer to a US bank account of Mr. Manafort", said Maloni, "completely undercuts [the] long-time charge that the Party of Regions ledger detailed "illegal cash payments" to Mr. Manafort".

This development with Manafort comes just a day after it was revealed that the Trump campaign's former policy adviser, Carter Page, was investigated by the F.B.I. for possibly being an agent of the Russian government.

Payments for Manafort's work in Eastern Europe are unrelated to the ongoing investigations.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Manafort's representative said he "has always denied that he ever received any cash payments for his work and has consistently maintained that he received all of his payments, for services rendered, through wire transfers conducted through the global banking system". It was not clear Wednesday whether Manafort was considering filing reports based on foreign work he did outside of Ukraine.

"Since before the 2016 election, Mr. Manafort has been in discussions with federal authorities about the advisability of registering under FARA for some of his past political work".

Last month, The Associated Press confirmed documents released by a Ukrainian lawmaker. The other was $455,249 and also matched a ledger entry. Some Ukrainian anti-corruption officials claim that $12.7 million in "off the books" cash payments were earmarked specifically for him in Yanukovych's so-called "black ledger".

Manafort's spokesman told the AP that Trump's ex-staffer was in talks with the government about registering as a foreign agent before the 2016 election and is now "taking appropriate steps" after "formal guidance".

By registering retroactively with the Justice Department, Manafort will be acknowledging that he failed to previously disclose his work as required by US law. That includes which American government agencies and officials he sought to influence, how he was paid and the details of contracts he signed as part of the work.

Mr Manafort thus devised an ambitious political strategy ten years ago to undermine the opposition to the Kremlin in the former Soviet republics. "The work in question was widely known", Maloni said.

As of Wednesday, the Justice Department's database did not list Manafort, Gates or Mercury as registered foreign agents for the same work. Manafort is now set to declare his work for Yanukovych three years after the fact.