Originally Posted by
Scaled cat
One of the world’s largest and most prestigious law firms has attracted the scrutiny of special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry.
The New York Times reports that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, colloquially known simply as “Skadden,” to furnish documents related to its work for deposed Ukrainian strongman Viktor Yanukovych.
The request is likely connected to Mueller’s ongoing investigation of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman on whom the inquiry is intensely focused.
Manafort commissioned the firm to prepare a report defending Yanukovych’s prosecution of his chief political antagonist, Yulia Tymoshenko, for corruption. Other lobbyists retained by the Yanukovych regime burnished the report as part of a strategy to assuage concerns about Ukraine’s human rights record in western capitals.
The firm’s lead attorney on the project was Gregory Craig, who served as White House Counsel during the Obama administration.
DOJ investigators appear to be working in tandem with Ukranian officials, who have expressed concerns that Skadden’s work was illegally financed by Yanukovych’s government.
The report was completed just weeks before Manafort’s daughter was retained as an associate at Skadden, according to TheNYT.
Mueller has aggressively pursued Manafort and his associates in recent months, issuing subpoenas compelling testimony from spokesman Jason Maloni and Melissa Laurenza, formerly Manafort’s personal counsel, and staging a dawn raid of Manafort’s home in Alexandria, Va.
Based in New York City, Skadden employs some 1,700 attorneys across 22 offices. It generates more than $2 billion in revenue annually.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/21/russia-probe-may-implicate-one-of-the-biggest-names-in-law/
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