Biglaw Firm to Pay $4.6 Million in Case Tied to Manafort and Ukraine

New York-based law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has agreed to pay $4.6 million to settle a Justice Department investigation into whether its work for a Russia-aligned Ukrainian government violated lobbying laws, reports The New York Times.

“As part of the settlement, the law firm agreed to register retroactively as a foreign agent for Ukraine in addition to paying the government $4.6 million, representing the money it earned from its work in Ukraine,” write the TimesKenneth P. Vogel and Matthew Goldstein.

The firm should have disclosed its lobbying activity for Ukraine under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which covers both lobbying and public relations on behalf of foreign political interests, the Justice Department said.

Read the Times article.

 

 




Amazon Fires Its Lobbying Law Firms in Washington

Amazon.com Inc. cut ties with two of Washington’s biggest lobbying law firms and brought on new advisers following passage of the tax overhaul bill last year and in the face of new challenges in the age of President Donald Trump, reports Bloomberg Politics.

The shakeup occurred shortly before Trump briefly sent Amazon’s stock tumbling when he tweeted that Amazon doesn’t pay enough in state and local sales taxes, hurts retailers and gets an unfair edge on the back of the U.S. Postal Service.

“Amazon ended its relationship with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, the law firm that attracts more lobbying revenue than any other K Street operation, and Squire Patton Boggs, last Friday, according to a person familiar with the decisions,” write Ben Brody, Spencer Soper and Jennifer Jacobs.

The reporters add that their source told them Amazon hired Paul Brathwaite of Federal Street Strategies LLC and Josh Holly of Holly Strategies Inc.

Read the Bloomberg Politics article.