RUSSIA MEDDLING PROBE: Top US lawyer jailed, fined $20,000 for repeatedly lying to investigators

A top US lawyer identified as Alex van der Zwaan faces up to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines and has been fined $20,000 fine for ‘repeatedly’ lying to investigators about foreign contacts.

Authorities say the former lawyer of a top campaign aide of US President Donald Trump was found guilty of lying to the special counsel in an ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.

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According to Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington DC, the trial of the Dutch national was not due to any collusion with the Russians.

“What he has been sentenced for has rather to do with the act of lying in itself,” he said.

According to reports, Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia meddling has widened its scope in recent months and is now looking more broadly at all the business dealings that took place within Trump’s orbit.

 

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