More than a dozen individuals have been charged by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in an ongoing probe of possible Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. Here’s what we know about the charges and who is involved.
Pleaded guilty
Charged
Paul
Manafort
13 Russian
nationals
Rick
Gates
Michael
Flynn
George
Papadopoulos
Richard
Pinedo
Konstantin
Kilimnik
Alex Van
Der Zwaan
Pleaded guilty
Charged
False
statements
Financial
dealings
Identity theft/
identity fraud
Other
charges
Such as false statements in documents or lies to federal agents.
Such as failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts
Such as creating bank accounts with stolen identities
Such as conspiracy to defraud the United States
Paul Manafort
13 Russian nationals
Rick Gates
Michael Flynn
George Papadopoulos
Richard Pinedo
Konstantin Kilimnik
Alex Van Der Zwaan
The charges in the Mueller probe include four former Trump campaign officials, though none has been charged with colluding with Russians to affect the 2016 election. Others charged include a Russian group of Internet trolls — 13 individuals and three companies that allegedly operated a scheme to affect the election — and a London-based lawyer accused of lying to investigators.
Paul Manafort
Manafort, a political consultant and Trump’s former campaign chairman, was indicted on charges he conspired to obstruct justice as investigators probed a past secret lobbying scheme on behalf of Ukraine. He was previously charged in an indictment with 18 counts of financial crimes, including bank fraud, filing false tax forms and failing to report foreign bank accounts. He also faces a charges of conspiring to defraud the U.S., money laundering and filing false lobbying disclosure statements in an indictment filed in October. He has denied the charges. A new 32-page indictment filed against Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates on Feb. 22 alleges both men lied on their income-tax returns and conspired to commit bank fraud. If convicted of the most serious charges, Manafort faces a de facto life prison sentence.
Yevgeniy Vikotorovich Prigozhin and others
Prigozhin was one of 13 Russians indicted Feb. 16 on conspiracy charges stemming from what U.S. officials say was a years-long effort to create division among Americans and bolster Trump’s chances of winning the presidential election. Prigozhin has been identified by Russian media as an oligarch and the financial backer of the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm in St. Petersburg that carried out the propaganda campaign. He has been nicknamed “Putin’s chef” because of his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. After his indictment, Prigozhin told a Russian news outlet that Americans “see what they want to see… If they want to see the devil, let them.” He has denied any involvement with the Internet Research Agency.
Konstantin Kilimnik
Konstantin Kilimnik was charged on June 8 in a superseding indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. The new charges revolve around allegations that he and Manafort tried to influence two potential witnesses in a case involving the failure to register as foreign lobbyists. According to prosecutors, Manafort, Kilimnik and others in 2012 put together a lobbying effort with former European politicians referred to informally as the “Hapsburg group” to advocate on behalf of Ukraine to U.S. and European officials.
Rick Gates
Gates has been Paul Manafort’s business associate since 2006 and worked as his deputy during Trump's presidential campaign. He also helped lead a nonprofit called America First Policies to bolster Trump’s agenda. Gates was charged in the special counsel’s 12-count indictment with conspiracy to launder money, making false statements and other charges. He pleaded guilty to two charges on Feb. 23.
Michael Flynn
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to making false statements to the FBI about his discussions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on sanctions on Russia and a U.N. resolution on Israel. According to court documents filed by the special counsel, Flynn had a conversation with Kislyak on Dec. 22 requesting Russia vote or delay a vote on a U.N. resolution about Israeli settlements. A week later, court documents say Flynn called Kislyak suggesting Russia to not retaliate for sanctions imposed by the Obama administration. The Russian ambassador called back saying Russia would not retaliate, records say.
George Papadopoulos
Papadopoulos is a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign. He pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 to lying to FBI agents about his interactions with Russians who claimed to have political “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Documents released in late October showed that the White House was aware of his months-long efforts to arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The White House has attempted to distance itself from Papadopoulos, claiming he was a “low level volunteer” on the campaign.
Richard Pinedo
Pinedo, a 28-year-old businessman from California, pleaded guilty on Feb. 16 to identity fraud. Pinedo told prosecutors he created hundreds of bank accounts with stolen identities and sold those accounts to unidentified offshore users, which may include suspects connected with the Russia investigation. Pinedo has agreed to cooperate with investigators.
Alex Van Der Zwaan
The 33-year-old lawyer pleaded guilty on Feb. 20 to lying to the FBI over his contacts with former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates, another defendant in the Mueller probe. Van der Zwaan was a London-based lawyer for the prestigious law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom, which worked with Paul Manafort and Gates when they served as political consultants in Ukraine. He is the son-in-law of German Khan, a billionaire and an owner of Alfa Group, Russia’s largest financial and industrial investment group. Van der Zwaan’s plea does not include any conditions for him to cooperate against others ensnared in the probe.
On April 3 Van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in prison, the first sentence handed out in the Mueller probe.
Devlin Barrett, Spencer S. Hsu and Kevin Uhrmacher contributed to this report.
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