If you lie to Robert Mueller, you go to jail. Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwann became the first person to be sentenced in Mueller’s investigation into Russian interfered with the 2016 presidential election. According to CNN, Van der Zwann was ordered to spend 30 days in a federal prison and pay a $20,000 fine after pleading guilty to lying to Mueller’s team.
Who is Alex van der Zwann?
Meet the 33-year-old Dutch lawyer who will become the first to be sentenced in the Mueller investigation. pic.twitter.com/VExi442Z7H
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 3, 2018
Politico also reports that Van der Zwann became involved in 2012 when his law firm worked with Trump aides Rick Gates and Paul Manafort to release a report that defended then-Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was in hot water for jailing Yulia Tymoshenko, his most prominent political adversary. This shady collaboration has caught Mueller’s attention and put Van der Zwann on his radar.
WATCH: Unlike in the case against Gates, Flynn and Manafort, Robert Mueller does not need Dutch Lawyer Alex van der Zwaan to cooperate.@PeteWilliamsNBC : "This was a punitive sentence to send the message that you can't lie to the special counsel." pic.twitter.com/6WrGBOdxi0
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 3, 2018