Four former Trump campaign associates have been charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, reports Fox News .
George Papadopoulos, Richard Gates, Paul Manafort, and Michael Flynn have all been accused of various offenses in the ongoing investigation.
Attorney Alex van der Zwaan has already pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI during the Russia probe, the first to be sentenced in the case. Zwaan was handed 30 days in prison last April.
Tax evasion and bank fraud charges were also filed against campaign aide Gates and Manafort in late February, and the two could face significant prison time if they’re found guilty.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in 2017 for false statements made during the investigation. Court documents cite that these statements were on “the timing, extent and nature of his relationships and interactions with certain foreign nationals whom he understood to have close connections with senior Russian officials.”
Manafort briefly worked as Trump’s campaign manager in 2017 and turned himself in to the FBI last fall. He is currently charged with tax evasion and bank fraud in a 32-count indictment filed by the special counsel in February.
The document outlines their crimes, including altering and using fraudulent paperwork to obtain loans, as well as four years of tax evasion and hiding foreign bank accounts. Another charge claims Manafort paid European representatives to influence Ukrainian politics.
His original indictment was 12 counts in all, including failure to report foreign bank and financial accounts, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false statements, conspiracy to launder money, and conspiracy against the U.S.
Mueller’s investigation further charged Manafort with obstruction of justice in June.
The former campaign manager sued the FBI in an effort to have his case dismissed, citing that Mueller had brought forth charges unrelated to Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Manafort was later jailed when a judge revoked his $10 million bail for witness tampering.
Flynn was Trump’s national security advisor for under a month before he resigned. He pleaded guilty to giving false statements to the FBI in December 2017. The investigation asserts that Flynn gave misleading information to the FBI about his discussions with the Russian ambassador during the campaign.
According to CNN , indictments have also been brought against 12 Russian nationals as part of the investigation, and the charges claim that they engaged in a “sustained effort” to invade Democratic emails in to further their agenda.
All of the defendants charged are part of the GRU, which is an intelligence agency under the direction of the Russian military. President Trump is slated to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin for a one-on-one conference in Helsinki Monday.
