CNN reports exclusively that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has handed over to New York federal prosecutors several cases involving American lobbyists and political operatives who may have failed to register as foreign agents.
The transfer of the inquiries marks an escalation of Mueller's referrals to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in the period since he turned over a case involving President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
Since the spring, Mueller has referred matters to SDNY involving longtime Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta and his work for his former firm, the Podesta Group, and former Minnesota Republican Rep. Vin Weber and his work for Mercury Public Affairs, the sources said.
One source said that former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig, a former partner at law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, is also part of the inquiry.
No one has been charged with a crime.
It's not clear whether they are considered one case or separate matters, these people said, though all involve inquiries into whether the men improperly performed work on behalf of groups associated with Ukraine without registering with the Justice Department as foreign agents.
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It's also not clear exactly why Mueller referred the matters to federal prosecutors in New York. Both Mercury and Skadden have offices in Manhattan, though Weber and Craig are based in Washington, DC, and performed the work in question while based in offices there. Podesta and his former firm are also based in Washington. SDNY, however, could claim jurisdiction for reasons such as the location of banking transactions associated with the activity under examination.
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Mueller had been scrutinizing all three firms as part of his inquiry into former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate, Rick Gates, who were both charged by the special counsel's office with failing to file as foreign agents relating to a decade of work they did for the Party of Regions, a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine.
Manafort, who pleaded not guilty and faces trial on the matter in September, and Gates, who pleaded guilty, paid the Mercury and Podesta firms through a nonprofit, European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, for work that was subsequently revealed to have been done on behalf of Ukraine's government, according to court filings.
Exclusive: Mueller refers foreign agent inquiries to New York prosecutors (CNN)