THE PLOT THICKENS

Lobbyist Tied to Manafort Associate Pleads Guilty With Failing to Register as Foreign Agent

For his alleged work with a Ukrainian political party.

A political consultant who once worked with a Russian co-defendant of Paul Manafort was pleaded guilty on Friday for failing to disclose that he was a foreign agent lobbying on behalf of a Ukrainian political party, Bloomberg reports. Sam Patten also “agreed to cooperate with authorities” after the Justice Department claimed that he “knowingly and willingly acted as an agent of a foreign principal,” Ukraine’s opposition bloc, without registering his foreign affiliation between 2014 and 2018. They also claim Patten also set up meetings with high-ranking legislative and executive officials to help the bloc influence U.S. policy. They further allege that he made more than $1 million for aiding the bloc, and that some portion of the money came from conduct that violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The charges also note that Patten knew that he should have registered as a foreign agent, because he had done so in the past while working with a different client. Records show that Patten worked with Konstantin Kilimnik, who was indicted on witness-tampering charges in Manafort’s money-laundering case.