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Attorney Alex van der Zwaan (L), who formerly worked for the Skadden Arps law firm, arrives at a U.S. District Courthouse for his sentencing April 3, 2018 in Washington, DC.
The first sentencing in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe has been handed down.
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan to 30 days in prison and $20,000 in fines. He will voluntarily surrender, NBC News reported.
Van der Zwaan had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI as part of Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
In a court filing about van der Zwaan’s sentencing last week, the special counsel’s office said the Dutch lawyer and Rick Gates, a top campaign aide to Donald Trump, had numerous calls during September and October 2016 with a “close business colleague” of Gates and former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort.
Mueller alleged that Gates told van der Zwaan that the colleague, identified in the memo as “Person A,” is a former spy with Russian military intelligence wing GRU.
The participants in the late-2016 conversations allegedly discussed the compensation for van der Zwaan’s law firm, Skadden Arps, over its involvement in crafting a report bolstering Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and undermining political opponents. They also allegedly talked about the possibility of being charged with crimes for the report.
Lawyers for van der Zwaan did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
