Paul Manafort associate pleads guilty, agrees to cooperate with Mueller investigation

Bart Jansen | USA TODAY

A Washington consultant, who was a business associate of Paul Manafort, pleaded guilty Friday to failing to register as a lobbyist working on behalf of a Ukraine political party and agreed to cooperate with authorities, according to federal court records.

W. Samuel Patten, 47, was charged with one count of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act for failing to register with the Justice Department, according to the four-page charging document from Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiLorenzo.

Patten was a business associate of Konstantin Kilimnik, who has ties to Russian intelligence. Kilimnik worked closely with Manafort and is a co-defendant in the pending case that accuses them both of witness tampering.

Patten pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who will also be hearing a case against Manafort starting Sept. 24 involving charges of money laundering and failing to file as a foreign agent.

Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, was convicted Aug. 21 of eight counts of tax and bank fraud in a separate trial in Virginia.

Paul Manafort found guilty on 8 counts, faces 305 years in prison A federal jury has found the former Trump campaign manager guilty on five counts of submitting false tax returns, one count of failing to report foreign bank and financial accounts, and two counts of bank fraud.

Patten surrendered his passport and was released on his own recognizance pending sentencing. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, referred Patten's case to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Under the 10-page plea agreement requiring cooperation with the government, Patten no longer faces potential charges for making false statements or obstructing the Senate Intelligence Committee, or for causing foreign money to contribute to Trump's 2016-2017 inauguration committee.

But Patten must cooperate fully, truthfully and completely with Mueller's office and other law enforcement authorities, including testifying in court, under the agreement.

Patten represented the Opposition Bloc, a Ukrainian political party and its members, including a prominent oligarch, according to court records. For his work, the company that Patten created with a Russian national who isn’t named in the documents received more than $1 million through an offshore Cypriot account.

The work involved setting up meetings in January 2015 with officials in the executive branch and members of Congress, to influence U.S. policy. Patten and his partner drafted periodic op-ed articles for U.S. press, including in January and February 2017.