Lobbying powerhouse the Podesta Group filed paperwork with the Justice Department today acknowledging that its work years ago for a European nonprofit benefited the same Ukrainian political party once advised by Paul Manafort, who later ran Donald Trump’s campaign.

The filings, obtained by POLITICO, appear to clean up the firm’s requirement to disclose its role in foreign lobbying that Manafort reportedly orchestrated. The Podesta Group said it believed its client was an unaffiliated European think tank. But the new paperwork suggests the Justice Department has information tying the think tank to the pro-Russian Ukrainian Party of Regions — a possible source of continuing legal trouble for Manafort, because he never disclosed his own role in the lobbying campaign.

Manafort “is taking appropriate steps in response” to “formal guidance” he recently received from authorities, according to his spokesman, Jason Maloni. Manafort has been in discussions with federal authorities about disclosing his overseas political work since before the 2016 election, Maloni said.

“The work in question was widely known, concluded before Mr. Manafort began working with the Trump campaign and was not conducted on behalf of the Russian government,” Maloni said.

Manafort’s work in Ukraine played a role in his ouster last August from President Trump’s campaign. At the time, the Associated Press reported that Manafort, working for pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych, secretly supervised the lobbying campaign funneled through a Brussels think tank.

The AP obtained emails showing that Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, directed the work of the Podesta Group and another lobbying firm, Mercury.

The Podesta Group relied on assurances from the think tank, the European Centre for Modern Ukraine, that it was not controlled or financed by a foreign government or political party, CEO Kimberly Fritts said in a statement. Based on that information, the firm disclosed its work to Congress instead of the Justice Department.

Mercury partner Michael McKeon said the firm is working with the FARA office to finalize its own filing, “which will be completed in a timely fashion.”

Lobbying firms typically prefer the congressional disclosures, known as the Lobbying Disclosure Act or LDA, wherever possible because they are less detailed and burdensome than reporting to the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, known as FARA. However, work for foreign governments or political parties has to be disclosed under FARA.

Fritts maintained that the firm’s original disclosures were appropriate. However, after consulting with the office that enforces FARA, the firm agreed to register retroactively.

“We believe the LDA registration was appropriate for our particular work on the Centre’s behalf,” Fritts said in the statement. “However, we also understand after constructive consultation with FARA Unit staff that their position, which is based on all the information available to them, is that the overall representation is better classified as a FARA registration. Therefore, today the Podesta Group has reclassified its previous LDA registration for the Centre to a FARA registration.”

While violating FARA is a criminal offense, the Justice Department typically seeks to resolve problems by bringing lobbyists into compliance rather than bringing charges. Last November, the Podesta Group updated its disclosures about lobbying work for India after contacts between chairman Tony Podesta and his brother, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, surfaced in the latter’s hacked emails. More recently, Michael Flynn, Trump’s short-lived national security adviser, retroactively disclosed lobbying that benefitted the government of Turkey after initially filing under the LDA instead of FARA.

While the new paperwork appears to settle the controversy as far as the Podesta Group is concerned, it suggests the FARA discrepancy remains an open front in the legal problems hounding Manafort. Manafort also faces suspicions of taking off-the-books payments for his work in Ukraine, promoting Russia across Europe, and laundering money. He reportedly is one of the Trump aides whose ties with Russia are under FBI investigation. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

The Podesta Group received more than $1.2 million from the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine for its work between 2012 and 2014, according to the new disclosures. The Podesta Group’s work included meetings with State Department officials Tom Nides and Jake Sullivan and staff of Senators John McCain and Dick Durbin, as well as contacting congressional staff, reporters and think tank researchers.

The Podesta Group was advised on the new filing by Matthew Sanderson, an ethics lawyer at Caplin & Drysdale.

Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/paul-manafort-lobbying-ukraine-podesta-group-237163

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