Skadden Arps Settles With DOJ Over Manafort Ukraine Dealings
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Josh Kovensky
January 17, 2019 3:39 pm
The prominent law firm Skadden Arps reached a civil settlement with federal law enforcement today over work it performed in Ukraine on Paul Manafort’s request, the Justice Department announced in a statement.
The firm agreed to pay $4.6 million that it secretly received for the work that it performed on behalf of the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice, and agreed to retroactively register as a foreign agent of the Ukrainian government.
Skadden wrote a report in 2012 whitewashing the Ukrainian government’s prosecution of a main political opponent, Yulia Tymoshenko.
The press release says that the lead partner in the matter made “false and misleading statements” to the DOJ after its foreign agents registration unit contacted the firm in 2013 in connection with the case. The lead partner was former Obama White House Counsel Gregory Craig, who left the firm in April 2018. The lead partner told the FARA unit that he had only replied to media requests regarding the report, and did not actively attempt to disseminate it in the American press, according to the press release.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/skadden-arps-settles-with-doj-over-manafort-ukraine-dealings
