Lawyer with close links to Manafort pleads guilty to lying in Russia probe
Alex van der Zwaan’s firm was accused of whitewashing abuses by Ukraine president
WASHINGTON— A lawyer whose firm was accused of whitewashing abuses by the former president of Ukraine — in co-operation with Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chair — pleaded guilty on Tuesday to lying to the special counsel investigating Russian election interference.
The lawyer, Alex van der Zwaan, worked in London for the prominent New York firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He was accused of making false statements regarding communications he had with Rick Gates, a longtime associate of Manafort and a former Trump campaign aide, about work they did in 2012 for the Ukrainian government, according to court papers.
Gates and Manafort both have been charged by special counsel Robert Mueller with money laundering and violations of tax and lobbying laws, and have pleaded not guilty. The investigation into the two men is centred on foreign lobbying work they did before they worked on Trump’s campaign.
Van der Zwaan, 33, a Dutch national who lives in London, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Washington. A speaker of Russian, Dutch, English and French, van der Zwaan also is the son-in-law of a wealthy Russian, German Khan, who was on a roster of oligarchs named in a recent Treasury Department list of prominent Russians with links to President Vladimir Putin. Though Manafort was not mentioned by name in the court document about van der Zwaan, the history between Manafort and the law firm suggests the special counsel has cast a wide net in investigating Manafort’s business relationships around the world.
Manafort’s relationship with Skadden dates to years before his work on the Trump campaign. He enlisted the firm in his effort to shield a client, Viktor Yanukovych, the Russiaaligned president of Ukraine, from international condemnation.
Manafort asked Skadden to draft a report that critics have said essentially whitewashed Yanukovych’s human rights record. One day after its release, a U.S. State Department official called it “incomplete,” saying it “doesn’t give an accurate picture” and that the State Department was concerned that “Skadden Arps lawyers were obviously not going to find political motivation if they weren’t looking for it.”
The law firm’s work was being investigated by Ukraine’s top prosecutor, which asked the U.S. Department of Justice for help in questioning eight lawyers who the Ukrainians believed were involved, including van der Zwaan, according to documents reviewed by the New York Times.
It is unclear what role van der Zwaan played in crafting the report. According to a report last year in the Kiev Post, van der Zwaan served as a go-between for the Skadden team that went to Ukraine for its report.
Ukraine’s prosecutor also wanted to question Skadden’s lead lawyer on the report, Gregory Craig, who served as president Barack Obama’s White House counsel, as well as Clifford Sloan, who also worked in the Obama administration.
In a statement, Skadden said: “The firm terminated its employment of Alex van der Zwaan in 2017 and has been co-operating with authorities in connection with this matter.” Craig and Sloan both declined to comment.
Van der Zwaan’s expertise at the law firm was in congressional investigations and government policy, according to a biography once on the law firm’s website that has been taken down.
The request by the Ukrainian prosecutor was part of a criminal corruption investigation into the government of Yanukovych. The Ukrainian general prosecutor alleged that Yanukovych’s government circumvented contracting rules by initially agreeing to pay Skadden a fee that was less than the threshold for competitive bidding — reportedly about $12,000 — then later paying the firm a total of nearly $1.1 million.