Defendant in Mueller probe faces sentencing

WASHINGTON — For the second time in six days, special counsel Robert Mueller has moved to begin the process for sentencing a cooperating defendant in his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, this time a California man charged with a Russian Internet trolling operation in February.

Richard Pinedo, 28, of Santa Paula, California, pleaded guilty Feb. 12 in Washington to creating hundreds of bank accounts, often using stolen identities, and selling some to unidentified offshore users, including suspects connected to the Russia probe.

Pinedo’s attorney, Jeremy Lessem, said Tuesday in a statement that the filing “indicates that we have begun the process of moving towards setting a sentencing date and ultimately resolving this case for Mr. Pinedo.”

However, Lessem added, “I don’t have any information as to what this means, if anything, for the broader Special Counsel investigation in general.”

The charge against Pinedo was announced the same day Mueller unveiled an indictment against 13 Russian individuals and three companies, including the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, accused of running a long-running scheme to trick Americans online into following Russian-fed propaganda to support then-candidate Donald Trump.

In the filing Tuesday, prosecutors with the special counsel’s office asked a federal judge to refer Pinedo’s case to U.S. probation officials to prepare a pre-sentencing report — the first step to bringing his case to a close. They indicated that they would update the court on that process on June 28.Pinedo’s guilty plea included an advisory sentencing guideline of 12 to 18 months.