On Tuesday, Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan received a sentence of 30 days in jail and a fine of $20,000 for making false statements in relation to the investigation being directed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Van der Zwaan was the fourth person to plead guilty in the Trump–Russia investigation, admitting in federal court that he had made false statements concerning his communications with Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.
Mueller’s team provided a sentencing document for van der Zwaan on Monday evening, and while they did not ask for any specific sentence, they made it clear that they disagreed with statements from van der Zwaan’s legal team stating that they didn’t think jail time was appropriate. Mueller, who has used indictments on false statements as leverage in securing testimony for the investigation, wanted jail time to remain a factor in such offenses. He got what he wanted with van der Zwaan, though the sentence was only 30 days.
The sentencing document makes it clear that Mueller felt van der Zwaan should not get off lightly. He is a lawyer, well aware of the responsibility for telling the truth to investigators, and he was given several warnings about the severity of lying.
In short, the defendant presents a scarcity of mitigating factors, and several aggravating circumstances.
Van der Zwaan’s indictment came over false statements he made regarding “Person A,” who was described as “a Ukrainian business associate of Manafort and Gates.” The New York Times has identified Person A as Konstantin Kilimnik, a suspected Russian intelligence operative. Communications with Kilimnik continued over the period that Paul Manafort and Gates worked on the Trump campaign.
Mueller’s agreement with van der Zwaan includes suspension of some aspects of FOIA, designed to keep aspects of the ongoing investigation classified.