An attorney for Michael Flynn said Tuesday that the former national security adviser was “eager” to proceed to sentencing and put his criminal case behind him.

The attorney, Robert Kelner, made the comments during a court hearing Tuesday before the US district judge Emmet Sullivan. It was the first time Flynn had appeared in court since he pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials during the presidential transition and his Turkish lobbying work.

Kelner said Flynn wanted to put this “chapter” behind him, but the special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has requested additional delay while the retired US army general continues to cooperate with the investigation into Russian election interference and whether Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Sullivan said he was amenable to delaying sentencing until prosecutors had signaled they were ready but wanted to hold off on having the probation office prepare a pre-sentencing report until a date was set. The two sides will give the judge another update by 24 August, when he said he would consider setting a sentencing date for 60 days later in late October.

Under federal guidelines, Flynn’s sentence is estimated to be between zero and six months in prison. Flynn was a top Trump campaign surrogate and briefly served as national security adviser before his firing in February 2017.

Also Tuesday, Flynn was reported to have joined a new lobbying and global equity consulting firm headed by lobbyists who recently represented the government of Qatar. But by the evening, his attorneys said he had not joined, saying a statement announcing the new position appeared to have been released as “the result of a misunderstanding”.

The firm, Stonington Global, had said Flynn would be serving as the global strategy director. It had also released a statement attributed to Flynn in which he said he would be using his experience to help companies and governments “enhance the goals of freedom and liberty”.

It said Flynn would oversee business development and “provide strategic consulting on international military, intelligence and peacekeeping activities”, the company said.

But Flynn’s attorneys, Kelner and Stephen Anthony, later issued a statement saying: “General Flynn has not joined Stonington and did not personally issue any public statement. He was aware that a statement was being drafted, but he did not intend that it be issued at this time. Its issuance now in his name appears to have been the result of a misunderstanding.”

