How Skadden, the Giant Law Firm, Got Entangled in the Mueller Investigation

By KENNETH P. VOGEL and MATTHEW GOLDSTEINFEB. 24, 2018

WASHINGTON — For much of its 70-year history, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has been a go-to firm for Wall Street, representing corporations like Pfizer and DuPont in acquisitions and becoming the first law firm in history to broker $1 trillion in mergers in a year.

But when one of its former lawyers, Alex van der Zwaan, admitted this past week that he lied to the special counsel investigating Russian election interference, his guilty plea shined a light on a profitable line of business that Skadden mostly keeps quiet: its work for unsavory foreign figures and their Washington lobbyists.

Mr. van der Zwaan, 33, acknowledged that he misled investigators about his communications related to the firm’s work for the Russia-aligned former president of Ukraine, Viktor F. Yanukovych, done in tandem with the former Trump campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Both were indicted on money laundering and other charges related to their work in Ukraine. Mr. Manafort has denied wrongdoing; Mr. Gates pleaded guilty on Friday and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

The interest of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, in Skadden appears to go beyond Mr. van der Zwaan. Mr. Mueller’s team has requested and received documents from Skadden related to its Ukraine work, according to two lawyers familiar with the investigation. The special counsel has investigated $4 million in secret payments that Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates are accused of funneling to Skadden and other firms from accounts in Cyprus, and could get more information on Skadden from Mr. Gates, who worked closely with the firm. Lawyers at Skadden are on edge, according to people who have worked with the firm.

Mr. Mueller’s inquiry threatens the delicate balance that Skadden has struck between lucrative sources of revenue. The firm has made huge profits from corporate work for image-conscious United States companies, while also representing riskier international clients, such as Russian oligarchs and companies with close ties to President Vladimir V. Putin and former Soviet states.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/us/politics/skadden-law-firm-mueller-investigation.html