Concord Management and Consulting, one of three Russian entities Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted for its role in working to influence the 2016 presidential election, is planning to plead not guilty.
CNN:
In a court filing in federal court in Washington, DC, on Saturday, US-based defense attorneys for the Russian company, Concord Management and Consulting, snapped back at Mueller's office by calling the lawyering by one of the prosecutors "pettifoggery."
The federal judge on Saturday also denied prosecutors' request to postpone Concord's initial appearance, scheduled for Wednesday. The special counsel's office had asked to reschedule Concord's appearance because it hadn't properly served the company with a summons.
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In US courts, defendants, even those in other countries, must receive formal notice of the charges against them before a case can proceed, unless a judge steps in.
Mueller's team has faced difficulties in pursuing the criminal case against 13 Russians and three Russian entities, including Concord, since charging them in February for allegedly interfering in the 2016 election using social media.
Mueller's indictment accuses Concord, run by Putin's chef Yevgeniy Prigozhin, of funding the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency troll farm which used fake accounts to push out disinformation and propaganda during the campaign. Concord's strategy in hiring a U.S. lawyer seems to be to force Mueller to show his hand.
Concord’s attorneys ... are wasting no time in demanding legal “discovery” in the case. Generally, the government is required to provide defendants with any evidence it intends to use at trial, as well as any material relevant to preparing a defense. To that end, the defense team is seeking a wealth of information on what the U.S. knows about the trolling operation, including a full list of fake social media accounts, the names of suspected co-conspirators, details of electronic surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies, and identities of Americans who were tricked into aiding the Russian campaign.
The lawyers also want Mueller to define a number of terms used in the indictment, including “improper foreign influence,” “significant funds,” and “disparaging Hillary Clinton.” In addition, the defense is demanding information on every U.S.-run election-interference operation since World War II, perhaps telegraphing a pot-kettle defense to the eight-count indictment.
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Sensitive discovery usually comes with a court order forbidding the defendants and their lawyers from using the material for anything except trial preparation. It’s unclear how that might apply in a case where the defendant is viewed as an unofficial arm of the Kremlin.
Russian company charged in Mueller probe plans to plead not guilty (CNN)
Russian Troll Farm Goes After Mueller’s Files (The Daily Beast)