Biglaw

Ex-Skadden Counsel Has Honor Of Being First Prominent Democrat Charged In Mueller Probe

It's not a surprising indictment, but still a juicy one.

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Greg Craig

We knew something like this was coming. Way back in April of last year when former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig was unceremoniously pulled from the Skadden’s website and several hours later it was confirmed he’d “retired” from his role as of counsel at the Biglaw giant, you knew that was only the start of his woes. Yesterday, federal prosecutors charged Craig with making false statements to the Department of Justice in connection with his work at Skadden.

As you may recall, Paul Manafort engaged Skadden Arps on behalf of the Ukrainian government, and the firm wrote a report justifying the prosecution of former Russian-aligned Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s political rivals. The report has been a featured part of the Mueller investigation’s case against Manafort. And former Skadden associate, Alex van der Zwaan, already pleaded guilty to lying to investigators in the Russia probe about his communications with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.

As reported by Law.com, Craig’s arraignment is scheduled for this afternoon, and his case has been assigned to Judge Amy Berman Jackson who has handled several cases stemming from the Mueller investigation. Mueller had referred the case to the Southern District of New York, but that office has not brought these charges. Federal prosecutors in Washington filed them on the recommendation of the National Security Division of the DOJ.

Skadden has already agreed to pay $4.6 million to resolve claims the firm violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act for not reporting this work to the DOJ. But that hasn’t altered Craig’s assertion he is not guilty:

“This indictment accuses Mr. Craig of misleading the FARA Unit of the Department of Justice in order to avoid registration,” his defense lawyers William Taylor III and William Murphy of Zuckerman Spaeder said in a statement Wednesday. “It is itself unfair and misleading. It ignores uncontroverted evidence to the contrary. Mr. Craig had no interest in misleading the FARA Unit because he had not done anything that required his registration. That is what this trial will be all about.”

You can read the full indictment below.

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