UPDATE - April 3, 2018: Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan has been sentenced to 30 days in prison and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine for lying to special counsel Robert Mueller's team.

• Van der Zwaan is the first person to be sentenced in Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

• The onetime attorney pleaded guilty in February for making false statements to investigators about his interaction with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.

• Appearing in federal court on Tuesday, Van der Zwaan told the judge:

"What I did was wrong. I apologize to the court for my conduct."

Countable's original story appears below.

Mueller Charges Dutch Lawyer

What’s the story?

Special counsel Robert Mueller has filed a charge against a lawyer for making false statements to investigators about his interaction with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.

He is scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Washington.

Why does it matter?

As Bloomberg explained, "Alex Van Der Zwaan was charged Feb. 16 with lying to the FBI and Mueller’s office about conversations related to his work on a report prepared by his law firm on the legitimacy of the criminal prosecution of a former Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko."

Zwaan – the son-in-law of a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch named in the controversial Donald Trump dossier – is also accused of deleting and failing to report emails requested by the special counsel’s office.

On Friday, Mueller brought charges against 13 Russians for interfering with the 2016 elections.

Take Action

—Josh Herman

Related Reading

• Breaking: Mueller Charges 13 Russians for Election Interference

(Photo Credit: The White House)