[ad_1]
In addition, these sources indicated that US Attorney's Office prosecutors for the Southern District of New York were planning to take action against the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where Craig was associated during the activity. Prosecutors are considering a civil settlement with the cabinet or a deferred prosecution agreement with Skadden, sources said.
A lawyer for Craig, who left Skadden in April and was a White House lawyer under President Barack Obama in the first year of this administration, said his client "was not required to to register under the law on the registration of foreign agents ". A Skadden spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
A deferred prosecution agreement is an agreement not to prosecute an entity as long as the defendant complies with the terms of the agreement and, in many cases, requires the defendant to commit no new crime during its term. The charges in the agreement are then dropped at the end of the period.
The investigation involving Craig and Skadden was referred to federal prosecutors in New York earlier this year by the office of Special Adviser Robert Mueller, CNN reported in August.
Prosecutors at the US Attorney's Office have informed the Justice Department of the options being considered, sources close to the case said. Prosecutors, however, did not conclude that they had sufficient evidence to bring the possible charges, said these sources, and therefore did not determine whether they should proceed or not.
Any action against Craig or Skadden would be an extraordinary step, given Craig's notoriety and Skadden's position as one of the country's largest and most prestigious law firms.
The investigation relates to the question of whether Craig improperly exercised lobbying activities on behalf of a group associated with Ukraine without registering with the Department of Justice as a & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; Foreign agent. Federal law requires that an entity representing a political party or foreign government file public reports detailing the relationship under the Foreign Agents Registration Act or FARA.
The investigation on Craig and Skadden is closely linked to a case against Manafort, and details of Skadden's work in the matter were leaked in criminal charges replaced on Friday by Mueller's office against Manafort. Manafort pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of conspiracy against the United States and to a charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice because of attempts to manipulate witnesses, and he agreed to cooperate with the federal government.
According to the case, which was only responsible for Manafort, Manafort "solicited" in 2012 a law firm on behalf of the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, and the Ministry of Justice of the Ukrainian government. The firm, which was Skadden, according to familiar people, was hired to write a report on the trial of Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister and political rival Yanukovych.
Prior to the official release of the report, "Manafort arranged for the law firm to distribute hard copies of the report to many government officials, including senior executives and US legislators," said the paper. . The partner who worked on the report – according to court proceedings in another related case, that of former Skadden lawyer Alex van der Zwaan – was Craig, reported CNN. Van der Zwaan pleaded guilty in February to lying at the office of the special council, admitting to misleading investigators about his discussions about Skadden's work for Yanukovych in preparing the report.
According to the New York Times, Craig himself was also involved in promoting the report to members of Congress and the media, which may have triggered FARA's demands.
Although FARA has an exception for lawyers who perform legitimate legal work on behalf of a foreign client, it requires lawyers who attempt to influence US government policy issues to register. . "Lawyers engaged in the legal representation of foreign constituents in courts or similar proceedings, provided that the attorney does not seek to influence the policy at the request of his client, are exempted", according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Justice.
Manafort's charges on Friday allege that "Manafort knew that the report did not indicate that the law firm, in addition to being retained to write the report, had been retained to represent Ukraine itself, especially as part of the trial team prosecuting Ms. Tymoshenko. "
More than $ 4.6 million was paid to Skadden for his work, and Manafort took steps to mask the fees because "Manafort and others knew that the actual cost of the report and the scope of the work of the Cabinet undermine the report being perceived as an independent evaluation and thus be an effective lobbying tool that Manafort can use to support the incarceration of President Yanukovych's political opponent. "
In addition to Craig's referral, Mueller's prosecutor's team earlier this year sent New York prosecutors to investigate FARA violations by long-time Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, a former Republican. from Minnesota, Vin Weber. Mercury Public Affairs partner, CNN reported, citing people familiar with the subject.
It is unclear whether federal prosecutors in New York are moving forward on the pieces of the case concerning these two men and their companies. In the Manafort charges filed Friday, prosecutors allege that employees of both companies knew that they were working for Ukrainian politicians and not for an independent non-profit group. Podesta had previously stated that it had not applied for FARA because it had been certified by the non-profit organization that it was not a branch of a foreign government or a foreign political party.
Weber did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Mercury could not be immediately reached. A spokeswoman for Podesta declined to comment.
Kara Scannell from CNN contributed to this story.
[ad_2]Source link
