K Street in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Mike Scarcella / ALM)

Sam Patten, a Washington lobbyist and political consultant, was charged Friday with failing to register as a foreign agent related to his consulting work for a Ukrainian political party, marking the latest enforcement action flowing from the special counsel's scrutiny of advocacy for international clients.

Patten, reportedly formerly associated with Paul Manafort, the onetime Trump campaign chairman, was set to appear Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Federal prosecutors in Washington, under the leadership of U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu, filed a one-count information against Patten accusing him of failing to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

The case against Patten was reportedly referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office from Robert Mueller III, the special counsel leading the investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Between 2014 and this year, Patten sought to influence U.S. policy on behalf of Ukraine's Opposition Bloc without disclosing his work to the Justice Department, according to the papers filed Friday.

Prosecutors alleged that Patten tried to arrange for his Russian business partner and a member of the Opposition Bloc—identified in court papers as a “prominent Ukrainian oligarch”—to meet with members of Congress and their staffs. Patten, prosecutors said, focused his efforts on members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Committee on Foreign Affairs but also worked to set up meetings with State Department officials and reporters.

Patten's business partner, described as a “Russian national,” and Ukrainian client are not identified in the court papers.

“The activity was undertaken to promote the interests of [the Ukrainian oligarch] and the Opposition Bloc to influence U.S. policy,” prosecutors said in the charging documents. Prosecutors also alleged that Patten helped the Ukrainian oligarch draft op-eds targeted at the U.S. press.

It was not immediately known whether Patten was represented by counsel. His plea hearing is set for 11 a.m. in front of U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

Jackson in late September will preside over the prosecution of Manafort on charges he also violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act for certain lobbying work for Ukraine. Manafort, separately, was found guilty at trial this month in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria on bank and tax fraud charges.

The cases against Manafort, brought by Mueller, put a new spotlight on foreign-agent lobbying registration. New registrations under that law have reportedly ticked up since Manafort was first charged in 2017.

“While recent cases related to the special counsel's investigation are notable examples, the Department of Justice also has initiated broad criminal inquiries into myriad other firms and individuals, including persons already registered under the statute,” a team from Covington & Burling wrote recently in an advisory memo.

The Justice Department recently started posting more FARA-related documents, including letters discussing when and why a particular law or lobby shop should or should not register under the decades-old law.

 

The information is posted below:

 

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