Price drops for Northfield home of convicted former Chicago bank executive tied to Donald Trump

Stephen Calk, convicted of offering $16M in loans to Paul Manafort in a bid for a position in the former Trump administration, bought the house in 2018 through a land trust.

Stephen Calk and 25 Meadowood Lane in Northfield (Getty Images, Redfin)
Stephen Calk and 25 Meadowood Lane in Northfield (Getty Images, Redfin)

Stephen Calk, the former Chicago bank executive who was convicted of trying to trade $16 million in loans to Paul Manafort for a job in former President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, reduced the listing price of his Northfield home to just under $4 million.

Calk’s 10,500-square-foot stone mansion was on the market for about two years for $4.3 million, and the price of the property was reduced this month, according to Crain’s. Calk, the former CEO of the Federal Savings Bank, bought the property in October 2018 for a little more than $3.2 million through Chicago Title and Land Trust Company that concealed his name. He put it on the market 10 months after buying it.

Built in 2009, the fully furnished house sits on a little more than an acre on Meadowood Lane. Inside the house is a hanging wooden staircase landing in a marble-floored foyer and crenellated facade and arched windows. The property also comes with a library, a sauna, gym, and theater, four fireplaces, and a three-car garage.

Out back, a bluestone terrace overlooks the formal garden, fountains and a tennis court. John Mawicke and Megan Mawicke Bradley from @properties are representing the house.

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Calk, a member of candidate Trump’s economics advisory team in 2016, was charged with directing loans to campaign chairman Manafort that would help finish his construction of a Brooklyn condominium and avoid foreclosure. According to U.S. prosecutors, those loans were in exchange for a senior post in the Trump administration.

Manafort helped Calk secure interviews, but was never hired. Federal Savings Bank incurred a multimillion-dollar loss when Manafort defaulted on the loans.

Calk is set to be sentenced on Feb. 7 for his conviction in July on financial institution bribery and conspiracy charges in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors want a sentence of 51 months to 63 months in prison.

[Crain’s] – Connie Kim