U.S. to Expand Mueller Election-Fraud Case Against 13 Russians

U.S. to Expand Mueller Election-Fraud Case Against 13 Russians
By Greg Farrell
November 12, 2019, 10:04 AM EST

American prosecutors plan to expand their long-running fraud case against 13 Russians, including an oligarch known as “Putin’s chef,” accused of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, court records show.

The government said Tuesday in court documents that it will file a superseding indictment to add to the charge of conspiring to interfere with a campaign finance rule banning certain expenditures by foreign nationals.

The case, begun by then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller in February 2018, described a concerted effort by the Russians to pose as American citizens actively engaged in social media during the campaign, posting inflammatory messages designed to sow discord among voters.

A company owned by Yevgeniy Prighozin, a restaurateur nicknamed “Putin’s chef” because he catered the Russian president’s functions, opted to fight the case and hired Washington lawyer Eric Dubelier. Dubelier has repeatedly attacked the government’s decision to charge his client with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and related charges, demanding the prosecutors show how his client knowingly violated any statute.

The government said the superseding indictment will not add any new defendants and that it should not affect a scheduled trial date of April 6, 2020. The case is USA v. Internet Research Agency, 18-cr-00032, in U.S. District Court, District of Columbia.

(short article)

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-11-12/u-s-to-expand-mueller-election-fraud-case-against-13-russians?__twitter_impression=true