Who was charged in the Mueller probe, and why

Roger J. Stone Jr.

Stone, a longtime informal adviser to President Trump, was arrested by the FBI in January after being indicted in the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Stone was charged with seven counts, including one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements and one count of witness tampering.

With Stone’s indictment, Mueller has struck deep inside Trump’s inner circle, charging a long-standing friend of the president and one of the first people to promote Trump for the White House.

Paul Manafort

In March 2019, Manafort, a longtime lobbyist and Trump’s former campaign chairman, was sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison for financial crimes and conspiracy.

In September 2018 Manafort pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and conspiring to obstruct justice. Months earlier he was found guilty after a three-week trial on tax and bank fraud charges. The jury convicted him on eight counts brought by Mueller’s investigation but was deadlocked on the other 10. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on those other charges.

Michael Cohen

Cohen, Trump’s “fixer” for many years, was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018 for lying to Congress and financial crimes, although the second charge originated from a related investigation by federal prosecutors in New York. Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in November 2018, and had previously pleaded guilty to eight counts as part of the New York investigation.

Yevgeniy Vikotorovich Prigozhin and others

Prigozhin was one of 13 Russians indicted in February 2018 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. He has denied any involvement with the Internet Research Agency.

Konstantin Kilimnik

Konstantin Kilimnik was charged in June 2018 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 was 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 October 2017 indictment with conspiracy to launder money, making false statements and other charges. He pleaded guilty to two charges in February 2018.

Michael ­Flynn

In December 2017, former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty 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, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, pleaded guilty in October 2018 to lying to FBI agents about his interactions with Russians who claimed to have political “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Documents released late that 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 in February 2018 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.

Alex Van Der Zwaan

The 33-year-old lawyer pleaded guilty in February 2018 to lying to the FBI over his contacts with former Trump campaign adviser Rick Gates. 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.

In April 2018, Van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in prison, the first sentence handed out in the Mueller probe.

12 Russian intelligence officers

A dozen Russian military intelligence officers were indicted in July 2018 on charges they hacked Democrats’ computers, stole their data and published those files to disrupt the 2016 election. The Mueller investigation had previously indicted Russian nationals, but this was the first time it brought charges against members of the Russian government.