The Justice Department is considering whether to charge a prominent Democrat, who served as White House counsel during President Barack Obama’s first year in office, for failing to disclose work he did on behalf of Ukraine.
The lawyer, Gregory Craig, worked on behalf of the Russia-aligned government of Viktor Yanukovych in 2012.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan were considering whether to bring criminal charges against Craig last year as part of an investigation into former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The charges were referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York by special counsel Robert Mueller, CNN reported at the time.
The case was transferred to the Justice Department in January, the New York Times reported Monday. Federal prosecutors in Washington are expected to make a decision about charges in the coming weeks.
Craig would be the first Democrat to be charged in a case relating to Mueller’s investigation.
He served as White House counsel under Obama from 2009 to 2010. Craig also worked in former President Bill Clinton’s administration, helping Clinton coordinate his defense against impeachment. He joined law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in 2010.
The investigation into Craig centered on whether he lobbied on behalf of a group linked to Ukraine without registering with the Justice Department as a foreign agent, which is required under the federal law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Court filings alleged the law firm was solicited by Manafort on behalf of Yanukovych and the Ukrainian government’s Ministry of Justice to write a report on the trial of a political rival of Yanukovych. Craig was the law firm’s partner who worked on the report and was involved in disseminating it to members of Congress and the media.
Craig left the law firm last year amid scrutiny over his connection to Manafort. Manafort was sentenced this month to seven and a half years in prison for crimes stemming from his work in Ukraine.
Skadden Arps reached a settlement with the Justice Department in January, agreeing to pay $4.6 million, in order to avoid prosecution. The law firm also had to retroactively register its work for Ukraine under FARA and cooperate with the government investigations.
