Attorney gets prison for lying in Russia probe

WASHINGTON — A federal judge sentenced attorney Alex van der Zwaan to 30 days in prison and a $20,000 fine on Tuesday for lying to federal investigators in the Russia inquiry, making him the first defendant in the special counsel case to face sentencing.

Van der Zwaan pleaded guilty in February to lying about his conversations with Richard Gates, who was Donald Trump’s deputy campaign chairman in 2016, and an unnamed person who prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence.

“This was more than a mistake,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said as she rejected defense lawyers’ pleas to keep Van der Zwaan out of prison. “This was more than a lapse or a misguided moment.”

She said Van der Zwaan appeared to be a “smart and up-and-coming young man,” but said his expressions of remorse “were somewhat muted, to say the least.”

Earlier, Van der Zwaan had told the judge: “What I did was wrong. I apologize to the court for my conduct.”

Van der Zwaan, 33, was born in Brussels and is a Dutch citizen. Before his arrest, he lived in London with his wife and worked for a prominent U.S. law firm there. His license to practice law in England and Wales will probably be revoked. He does not have a license to practice law in the U.S.

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s office did not take a position on whether Van der Zwaan should face time behind bars, but suggested he should face a clear penalty. He faced up to six months in prison under sentencing guidelines.

“People need to know there are consequences for withholding documents and consequences for lying to the government,” Andrew Weissmann, one of the prosecutors, told the judge.

In addition to Van der Zwaan, four other people have pleaded guilty to criminal charges brought by Mueller, who is investigating whether anyone on Trump’s team assisted Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, or committed other crimes.

As part of their plea deals, all four agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. Sentencing for them, including Gates, has been put off until their cooperation is complete.

A sixth defendant, Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, is fighting multiple charges of money laundering, bank fraud and tax evasion in federal courts in Virginia and Washington.

Manafort, whose case is before the same judge in Washington, has asked Jackson to dismiss the charges against him, arguing that Mueller wasn’t empowered to investigate his lucrative lobbying work on behalf of Ukraine’s proKremlin government because it wasn’t related to the U.S. presidential election.

Mueller’s office rejected those arguments Monday night, giving the court a heavily redacted memo that Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein wrote in August. Rosenstein, who supervises Mueller’s inquiry, wrote that the special counsel was authorized to investigate allegations of improper payments related to Manafort’s work.

The memo says Mueller also was authorized to examine allegations that Manafort “committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials” in connection with the U.S. election. Manafort has not been charged with crimes related to the campaign.

Prosecutors so far have charged 13 Russians and three Russian entities — including the Internet Research Agency, which U.S. officials said churned out social media posts to manipulate American public opinion during the 2016 campaign.

When asked by investigators about his contacts with Gates and an unnamed person, Van der Zwaan withheld information about communications in the months leading up to the election. He also deleted messages, prosecutors said.

In a court filing, the special counsel’s office said Van der Zwaan “lied repeatedly, and prior to which he destroyed and failed to produce pertinent documents.”

The unnamed person has ties to Russian intelligence, and the lies all involved matters “pertinent to the investigation,” prosecutors said.