Mueller witness faces child-sex charges

ALEXANDRIA, Va.— A businessman who served as a key witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation now faces a charge of child sex trafficking in addition to transporting child pornography.

An indictment made public Friday in federal court in Alexandria charges Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, 60, with transporting a 14-year-old boy from Europe to Washington, D.C., in February 2000 and engaging in sex acts with him.

That charge comes on top of child-pornography charges that had been leveled against him when he was arrested last month.

Nader’s name shows up more than 100 times in Mueller’s report. It details his efforts to serve as liaison between a Russian banker close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and members of President Donald Trump’s transition team.

Nader also served as an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, a close Saudi ally, and in April 2017 wired $2.5 million to a top Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, through a company in Canada, in a bid to persuade the U.S. to take a hard line against Qatar.

Nader is jailed as he awaits trial, which is set for Sept. 30.

The current investigation of Nader began last year when images depicting child pornography and bestiality were found on his phone after it was confiscated under a search warrant connected to the Mueller probe.

In 1991, Nader pleaded guilty in Virginia to a charge of transporting child-pornography images. He also was sentenced in 2003 to a year in prison in the Czech Republic after being convicted of sexually abusing minors.