Lawyer Accused of Making False Statements in Russia Investigation

WASHINGTON — The special counsel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election has charged an attorney with making a false statement when he was interviewed about work he did with a Trump campaign adviser six years ago.

The attorney, Alex van der Zwaan, who worked in London for the prominent New York law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, was expected to appear in court Tuesday. He is accused of making false statements regarding communications he had with Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign aide, about work done in Ukraine, according to a document filed in court Friday.

Gates was a longtime business associate of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, and followed him onto the campaign. Both have been charged by the special counsel with money laundering and violations of tax and lobbying laws and have pleaded not guilty. Manafort was not mentioned in the court document about van der Zwaan.

Manafort’s relationship with Skadden dates to years before his work on the Trump campaign. He enlisted the firm in his effort to shield a client, Viktor F. Yanukovych, the pro-Russia president of Ukraine, from international condemnation.

Manafort asked Skadden to draft a report that would help counter accusations that Yanukovych's government had prosecuted and convicted the former Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, on corruption charges in 2011 for political reasons and without sufficient evidence.

Ukraine’s top prosecutor asked the Department of Justice last year or earlier for help in questioning eight lawyers who the Ukrainians believed were involved in Skadden’s work, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. Van der Zwaan’s name was on the list, though it is unclear what role he played in crafting the report.

Also on the list was Skadden’s lead lawyer on the report, Gregory B. Craig, who served as President Barack Obama’s White House counsel, as well as Clifford M. Sloan, who also worked in the Obama administration.

In a statement, Skadden said: “The firm terminated its employment of Alex van der Zwaan in 2017 and has been cooperating with authorities in connection with this matter.” Craig and Sloan both declined to comment.

The request by the Ukrainian prosecutor was made as part of a criminal corruption investigation into the government of Yanukovych. The Ukrainian general prosecutor alleged that his government circumvented contracting rules by initially agreeing to pay Skadden a fee that was less than the threshold for competitive bidding — reportedly about $12,000 — then later paying the firm a total of nearly $1.1 million.

In court documents in that case, Manafort, whose work as a political consultant is at the heart of the special counsel’s case against him, is identified as having facilitated the contract for the U.S. law firm.