Mueller Charges Ex-Skadden Lawyer With Lying in Russia Inquiry - Bloomberg
Description: An attorney who worked for a prominent law firm was charged with making false statements to federal authorities as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election.
Keywords: Law,Federal Bureau of Investigation,Russia,SPECIAL COUNSEL,Ukraine,London,MINISTRY OF JUSTICE/THE,Paul John Manafort,Washington,Employment,politics

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# Mueller Charges Ex-Skadden Lawyer With Lying in Russia Inquiry

Updated on

- Van Der Zwaan helped on Ukraine report coordinated by Manafort
- False statements case comes days after Russians charged

Bloomberg’s Kevin Cirilli reports on the charge by U.S. investigators against lawyer Alex Van Der Zwaan.

An attorney who worked for a prominent law firm was charged with making false statements to federal authorities as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election.

Alex Van Der Zwaan was charged Feb. 16 with lying to the FBI and Mueller’s office about conversations related to his work on a report prepared by his law firm on the legitimacy of the criminal prosecution of a former Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.

Prosecutors charged Van Der Zwaan by criminal information, which typically precedes a guilty plea. He is scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Washington. He didn’t immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

Van Der Zwaan was an associate in the London office of Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom. "The firm terminated its employment of Alex Van Der Zwaan in 2017 and has been cooperating with authorities in connection with this matter,” the firm said in a statement.

Last year, Van Der Zwaan married the daughter of Russian oligarch German Khan, according to the London Tatler. Khan is a shareholder of Alfa Group, a Russian banking and investment concern, and a board member at LetterOne Holdings, the investment vehicle set up by the founders of Alfa Group.

The unsealing of Van Der Zwaan’s case came four days after Mueller accused 13 Russians of a sophisticated disinformation campaign using a troll army that targeted the 2016 campaign and sought to sow discord in the U.S.

### Secret Recording

The lawyer is accused of misleading investigators about the last time he talked with Richard Gates, who was indicted in October with ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort over their consulting work in Ukraine. Van Der Zwaan was questioned by U.S. authorities regarding his firm’s work in 2012 on behalf of the Ukraine Ministry of Justice.

Van Der Zwaan told investigators that his last contact with Gates was an innocuous text message in mid-August 2016, when they actually spoke the following month about the Tymoshenko report in a call the lawyer secretly recorded, the information says.

Prosecutors also accused Van Der Zwaan of lying about his talks with someone else, identified by the government as Person A. The lawyer told investigators he last spoke with Person A in 2014, when in fact they spoke in September 2016 during the secretly recorded call with Gates.

Van Der Zwaan also deleted and failed to produce emails sought by the special counsel and a law firm, prosecutors said.

### Document Request

The Justice Department had asked Skadden for information and documents related to its work for the Yanukovych government, the New York Times reported in September.

Van Der Zwaan was one of the lawyers who worked on the 2012 report, commissioned by the government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, which largely defended the prosecution and conviction of the country’s former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The report defied the view held by the U.S. and the European Union that the case against her was politically motivated.

The firm’s $12,000 fee was modest, just below the amount that required public bidding. The following year, with no further work done, Ukraine sent Skadden $1 million. In a previous statement, Skadden officials said it had returned the balance of Ukraine’s payment, which they said had been held in escrow for future work.

After the pro-Russian government was run out of town in 2014, the new authorities began investigating.

A Russian speaker, Van Der Zwaan was one of lawyers that Ukrainian prosecutors wanted to speak with to investigate misuse of government funds to pay for the report.

### Obama Counsel

Manafort was involved in recruiting Skadden to prepare the report on behalf of Ukraine, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. The Skadden team was headed by Gregory Craig, a partner who had worked as President Barack Obama’s White House counsel from 2009 to 2010 and for President Bill Clinton during his impeachment.

Craig couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Manafort and Gates are accused of failing to register as agents in the U.S. for political consulting they did in Ukraine for pro-Russian politicians, conspiring to launder millions of dollars and hiding offshore bank accounts. Manafort is accused of laundering money to buy houses, cars, clothes and landscaping services. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

The indictment also alleges that offshore accounts associated with Manafort and Gates paid more than $2 million between 2012 and 2014 to two companies that lobbied members of Congress and their staffs about Ukraine sanctions and “the propriety of imprisoning his presidential rival.”

The case is U.S. v. Van Der Zwaan, 18-cr-31, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

— With assistance by Andrew M Harris, and Greg Farrell

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