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Paul Manafort is expected to plead guilty Friday to criminal charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller related to his work for a Russia-aligned political party in the Ukraine.

The Special Counsel has scheduled a plea hearing for 11:00 am eastern on Friday after filing a new superseding criminal indictment against Manafort that reduced the charges against President Trump’s ex-campaign chairman from a total of seven counts to just two: conspiracy against the U.S., and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The announcement follows reporting from multiple outlets on Thursday evening that Manafort was close to reaching an agreement to plead guilty with prosecutors. A spokesman for for Manafort didn’t immediately return requests for comment from VICE News.

Observers, however, have cautioned that a guilty plea isn’t the same thing as an agreement to cooperate.

Before Friday’s plea hearing was announced, legal observers said that pleading guilty might simply mean that Manafort wanted to avoid the stress and expense of a second trial, without having to divulge information to Mueller’s investigators about the inner workings of the Trump 2016 campaign in exchange for leniency.