The US has dropped election meddling charges against two companies controlled by a close ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in a stunning retreat for the Department of Justice.
Prosecutors on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss an indictment brought by Robert Mueller in 2018 against entities controlled by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Russian national known as “Putin’s chef”.
Mr Mueller, who was then special counsel investigating Russia’s role in the 2016 election, charged the two entities, Concord Management and Consulting, and Concord Catering, as part of a broader indictment against 13 Russian nationals and the St Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency.
The indictment laid out the US government’s claims that Russia mounted a sophisticated propaganda and interference campaign through social media that was designed to help Donald Trump’s election efforts and damage his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s.
The dismissal of the charges, approved by the judge late on Monday, handed Mr Prigozhin a significant public relations victory that stemmed from a rare mis-step by Mr Mueller, a former FBI director appointed in 2017 to investigate links between Mr Trump’s election campaign and Russia.
Two months after the indictment was filed in February 2018, US-based lawyers from Reed Smith made an unexpected appearance in court on behalf of Concord Management. The move forced the justice department to litigate the case even as Mr Prigozhin, who was also indicted, remained beyond their grasp in Russia.
By indicting the corporate entities along with the other defendants, Mr Mueller had opened the door for Mr Prigozhin’s Concord Management to obtain case information, taunt the US in federal court, and go to trial with little fear of the repercussions that an individual would face.
On Monday, with a trial of the claims against Concord Management finally nearing, prosecutors abruptly abandoned their case against it and the other charged entity controlled by Mr Prigozhin.
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Eric Dubelier, an attorney for Concord Management, said on Monday that the US had “fundamental problems” with how it charged and prosecuted the case.
“The purpose of this indictment was to make a political statement regarding the outcome of the 2016 election that was grossly overstated. In preparing for trial we had every intention to prevail given the problems with the government’s allegations,” he said in a statement.
“The government’s evidence was completely devoid of any information that could establish that the defendants knew what they were doing was in violation of highly complex US laws and regulations,” he added. “This was a make-believe charge to fit the facts solely for political purposes.”
The motion to dismiss accused Concord of failing to fully participate in the process, argued that a trial could expose US “tools and techniques” for investigating foreign influence and conceded that the evidence the justice department could present may not be sufficiently persuasive because some of it was now classified.
“That forces the prosecutors to choose between a materially weaker case and the compromise of classified material,” wrote the prosecutors from the justice department’s national security division and US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.
The filing defended the initial prosecution as “properly commenced” as part of an effort to defend American democratic institutions, but said that the “balance of equities” had now shifted. “It is no longer in the best interests of justice or the country’s national security to continue this prosecution,” the prosecutors wrote.
The charges against the 13 individuals and the remaining corporate entity indicted by Mr Mueller remain outstanding.
The case was one of two filed by Mr Mueller that described what the US government claims was Russia’s sweeping interference in the 2016 election. The second indictment charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking and leaking emails from the Democratic National Committee and Mrs Clinton’s campaign.
None of the Russian nationals charged by Mr Mueller have stood trial and Moscow has denied any interference in the 2016 election. The special counsel’s final report issued last year described extensive contacts between Mr Trump’s campaign and various Russian or Russia-linked nationals but did not establish any criminal conspiracy.
