Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan on Tuesday became the first person to be sentenced as part of Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation.
Van der Zwaan, whose father-in-law is Russian oligarch German Kahn, was sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $20,000 for lying to federal investigators about his relationship with officials in Donald Trump's campaign, Fox News reports. He pleaded guilty in February to lying to investigators about his work in Ukraine with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced the 33-year-old lawyer in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.
Van der Zwaan does not have any known ties to the Trump campaign, but according to the special counsel, he had a meeting with Gates and a business associate identified as Person A before the end of the 2016 campaign.
ABC News reported that Ukraine-based Konstantin Kilimnik is the associate with whom van der Zwaan and Gates met, although he denies it. Kilimnik worked with Manafort last year to improve the latter's image in Ukraine, which violated a court-imposed gag order.
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and tax evasion. Gates has pleaded guilty to reduced charges and, according to reports, is cooperating with Mueller's probe.
"That Gates and Person A were directly communicating in September and October 2016 was pertinent to the investigation," prosecutors said in van der Zwaan's pre-sentencing court document.