WASHINGTON \u2014 A Dutch attorney who lied to federal agents investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison in the first punishment handed down in special counsel\u2019s Russia investigation. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alex van der Zwaan\u2019s sentence could set a guidepost for what other defendants charged with lying in special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation may receive when their cases are resolved. Among them are a former White House national security adviser and a Trump campaign foreign policy aide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van der Zwaan had faced zero to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, and his attorneys had pushed for him to pay a fine and leave the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, citing the need to deter others from lying in an investigation of international importance, said incarceration was necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese were not mistakes. These were lies,\u201d Jackson told van der Zwaan as he stood before her. Being able to \u201cwrite a check and walk away,\u201d she added, would not fit the seriousness of the crime or send the right message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The criminal case against van der Zwaan is not directly related to Russian election interference, the main focus of Mueller\u2019s probe. But it has revealed new details about the government\u2019s case against Manafort and opened a window into the intersecting universes of international law, foreign consulting work and politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case has also exposed connections between senior Trump campaign aides, including Rick Gates, and Russia. Just last week, the government disclosed that van der Zwaan and Gates spoke during the 2016 presidential campaign with a man Gates had previously described as having ties to the GRU, Russia\u2019s military intelligence agency. Gates is now cooperating with Mueller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a 40-minute hearing Tuesday, van der Zwaan made only a brief statement, telling Jackson, \u201cYour Honor, what I did was wrong. I apologize to the court. I apologize to my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van der Zwaan, who was fired last year by the high-powered international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, admitted in February to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Gates and the person with ties to Russian intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van der Zwaan had previously grown close to Manafort, Gates and the person, Konstantin Kilimnik, during his work on a 2012 report commissioned by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice. The report, authored by the law firm, was about the corruption trial of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Kilimnik, who was born in Ukraine while it was a Soviet republic, has previously denied having any relation to Russian intelligence services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though prosecutors did not take a position on whether van der Zwaan should be locked up, they stressed that he had lied \u201crepeatedly\u201d to investigators. \u201cThis is not an isolated instance of bad judgment or criminal conduct,\u201d prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van der Zwaan\u2019s attorneys argued that he had suffered enough already. His life has been destroyed by his \u201cterrible decision\u201d to lie to federal authorities, they said. The attorneys pushed Jackson to allow van der Zwaan to return to London as soon as possible where he lives with his wife, who is going through a difficult pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe has been here well over four months without a home, without his wife and without his family,\u201d his attorney, William Schwartz, said. \u201cHe is literally in limbo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schwartz stressed that his client had made the effort to return to the U.S. to \u201ccorrect the record\u201d after he lied to the special counsel\u2019s office, though prosecutors took issue with the characterization, noting that van der Zwaan was under a grand jury subpoena at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson said she recognized that van der Zwaan has been away from his family for months, but the defense\u2019s attempts to paint him as a tragic figure didn\u2019t ring true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is not something that happened to him. He did not suffer unavoidable circumstances of tragedy. This is something he did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson also said his signs of remorse were relatively \u201cmuted.\u201d He didn\u2019t write a letter to the judge, as his family and friends did, and hasn\u2019t used his time in the U.S. to perform community service or other good deeds to make up for his actions, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to the prison time and fine, Jackson imposed two months of supervised released. She allowed him to voluntarily surrender to prison authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sentencing came just hours after another development in the special counsel\u2019s investigation of Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a court filing late Monday, prosecutors revealed that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had in August explicitly authorized the Justice Department\u2019s special counsel to investigate allegations that Manafort colluded with the Russian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manafort has challenged Mueller\u2019s authority and asked a judge to dismiss charges against him including acting as an unregistered foreign agent and conspiring to launder tens of millions of dollars he received from his Ukrainian political consulting. He said Mueller overstepped his bounds by charging him for conduct that occurred years before the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in their new filing , prosecutors revealed that Rosenstein \u2014 who appointed Mueller \u2014 specifically authorized the investigation of any crimes related to payments Manafort received from the Ukrainian government during the tenure of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The description largely captures the charges against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rosenstein also empowered Mueller to investigate allegations that Manafort \u201ccommitted a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials\u201d to interfere with the presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
None of the charges Manafort currently faces alleges coordination with the Kremlin. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing related to Russian election interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
___<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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