Attorney accused of lying to Russia-link inquiry
THE SPECIAL counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 US election has charged an attorney with lying to federal investigators about his interactions with a former Trump campaign official.
A document filed in federal court in Washington accuses Alex van der Zwaan of lying to investigators about his interactions with Rick Gates, a longtime business associate of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort.
Both Gates and Manafort were indicted last year on charges of conspiracy to launder money and acting as unregistered foreign agents.
The plea hearing comes on the heels of an extraordinary indictment from Mr Mueller last week that charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies of a hidden social media effort to meddle in the 2016 presidential election by denigrating Democrat Hillary Clinton and boosting the chances of Mr Trump.
The single-count information against van der Zwaan was filed ahead of a plea hearing.
The charge stems from a part of the special counsel’s investigation into Manafort and Gates, who are accused of directing a covert Washington lobbying campaign on behalf of pro-Russian Ukrainian interests.
According to the court filing, prosecutors said van der Zwaan lied to federal investigators about his role in the production of a report on the trial of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She is a political foe of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, whose political party was a client of Gates and Manafort.
In the charging document, van der Zwaan is accused of lying during an interview with prosecutors and FBI agents on November 3 2017. The document accuses him of lying and of deleting emails sought by the investigators.