U.S. Associate of Indicted Russian Pleads Guilty, to Cooperate With Mueller
(Reuters) - An American who is the business partner of a Russian national accused by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller of having ties to Russian intelligence pleaded guilty on Friday to unregistered lobbying for a pro-Kremlin political party in Ukraine.
Samuel Patten, 47, also agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s probe.
Patten admitted to arranging for a U.S. citizen to act as a straw purchaser to pay $50,000 for four tickets to the inauguration of President Donald Trump on behalf of a Ukrainian oligarch, who reimbursed Patten through a Cypriot account.
The move circumvented U.S. law prohibiting foreigners from providing money to an organization running the inauguration. The tickets were given to the oligarch, another Ukrainian, Patten and the Russian national, according to the charging documents.
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