US Justice Department Mulls Criminal Charges Against Trump Ally Erik Prince - Reports

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) Eric Prince, founder of the military contracting firm Academi LLC (formerly called Blackwater) and an ally of President Donald Trump, faces a possible indictment by the Justice Department connected to Russia, as well as possible violations of US export laws, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The report, based on unnamed sources, characterized the criminal probe as being in the late stages of deciding whether to charge Prince for lying to Congress during Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia collusion.

Prince attorney Matthew Schwartz said the report provides no new information, noting that Prince cooperated fully in the Trump-Russia investigation and his testimony to a House of Representatives panel had been public for more than a year.

The Russia connection involves a meeting in the Seychelles after Trump's 2016 election with Russian Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriev, who has described himself as a close adviser to President Vladimir Putin.

Prince later described the meeting as unplanned, claiming he was in the Indian Ocean nation to meet potential business customers from the United Arab Emirates.

Price's former company Academi LLC entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in 2012 to resolve criminal charges that it violated export laws by not obtaining appropriate licenses for services that included providing ammunition and body armor to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as military training to Canada, the report said.