Lawyer pleads guilty to lying
WASHINGTON — An attorney whose firm was accused of whitewashing abuses by the former president of Ukraine in cooperation with Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, pleaded guilty Tuesday to lying to the special counsel investigating Russian election interference.
The attorney, Alex van der Zwaan, worked in London for the prominent New York law 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.
Both Gates and Manafort 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 centered on foreign lobbying work they did before they worked on Trump’s campaign.
Van der Zwaan, 33, a Dutch national, 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 that the special counsel has cast a wide net in investigating Manafort’s business relationships around the world.