DOJ moves to DROP charges against two Russian companies Mueller charged with interfering in 2016 election

by The Right Scoop

The Justice Department will drop all charges against two Russian companies that Mueller charged with interfering in the 2016 elections:

WASHINGTON TIMES – The Justice Department is moving to drop charges against two Russian companies that were accused of funding a social media campaign to sway American public opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering were among three companies and 13 individuals charged in 2018 by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of a conspiracy to spread disinformation on social media during the 2016 presidential race. The effort included social media postings and campaigns aimed at dividing American public opinion and sowing discord in the electorate, officials said.

Of the 13 Russians and three Russian companies charged by Mueller in a vast social media disinformation effort, Concord was the sole defendant to enter an appearance in Washington’s federal court and contest and the allegations.

Concord is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman known as “Putin’s chef” for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has been hit with U.S. sanctions over Russian interference in the 2016 election and is charged alongside his company in the indictment brought by Mueller.

The company, with the help of a high-powered law firm, filed a series of motions over the last two years, including to dismiss charges and to exclude certain evidence from the case.

But with the case approaching trial, prosecutors said they had to weigh the risk of potentially exposing sensitive national security information against the benefits of continuing with the case against a company that likely wouldn’t face any significant punishment in the U.S. In the court filing on Monday, prosecutors said Concord had been “eager and aggressive in using the judicial system to gather information about how the United States detects and prevents foreign election interference.”

“In short, Concord has demonstrated its intent to reap the benefits of the Court’s jurisdiction while positioning itself to evade any real obligations or responsibility,” prosecutors wrote in Monday’s filing. “It is no longer in the best interests of justice or the country’s national security to continue this prosecution.”

Concord Catering did not have attorneys appear in court, but prosecutors said they would seek to drop charges against that company as well because it too was controlled by Prigozhin and “based on the likelihood that its approach to litigation would be the same as Concord.”

The DOJ will still pursue the 13 Russians and the troll farm that Mueller indicted:

Prosecutors vowed to continue to pursue their case against the 13 Russians who were named in Mueller’s indictment, along with the troll farm that Concord was alleged to have funded, the Internet Research Agency.

Here’s another take on the DOJ dropping these charges from Techno Fog:


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