A California man who was accused by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office of operating an online auction service that trafficked in stolen identities will be sentenced on Wednesday in a federal district court, Reuters writes.
Richard Pinedo, who pleaded guilty to one count of identity fraud in February, could face between 12 to 18 months in prison and a fine of $5,500 to $55,000, according to U.S. sentencing guidelines.
The indictment against the Russians makes no mention of Pinedo by name, but a source familiar with the case told Reuters he is referred in the charging documents as the person who helped the Russian conspirators launder money, as well as purchase Facebook ads and pay for rally supplies, through PayPal Holdings Inc.
The criminal charge against Pinedo was announced in February by Mueller’s office at the same time it unveiled an indictment against 13 Russians and three Russian companies on charges they adopted fake online personas to push divisive messages, traveled to the United States to collect intelligence and staged political rallies.
Mueller’s investigation has issued several indictments and accepted guilty pleas as it investigates Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Pinedo’s attorney, Jeremy Lessem, has said his client had no knowledge of the identities or the motivations of those who purchased the information he sold.
Meanwhile, a longtime Roger Stone associate challenging Mueller’s authority in federal court lashed out on Tuesday at the lead Russia investigator in his first public comments about the case.
Andrew Miller, the former Stone aide who remains in contempt of court for refusing to appear before Mueller’s grand jury, said in a radio interview Tuesday that he agreed to be the front man for the lawsuit seeking to oust the Special Counsel from his post because of the way he was treated after the FBI questioned him earlier this year at his mother’s house in St. Louis, Politico reported.
“I’m not going to be a victim to my government,” Miller said, describing a two-hour interview this spring where FBI agents delivered a subpoena demanding documents and his appearance before a Washington, D.C. grand jury.
“I was happy to speak to the FBI when they came to my house and I talked to them until they had no more questions. I would have been probably happy to do some kind of teleconference situation. But the fact of the matter is when I spoke to the prosecuting attorney there was such disdain in his voice about me coming to D.C. and how I had to be there and they were going to force me out there. That’s problematic,” he added.
The government typically reimburses grand jury witnesses for their travel expenses, including airfare and lodging. Witnesses are paid $40 per day when they are required to be in court but they are not reimbursed for lost wages, Politico adds.
A Mueller spokesman declined comment on Miller’s remarks, which came during an interview with radio host Michael Caputo, another longtime associate to both Stone and President Donald Trump who himself has been a witness in the Special Counsel’s investigation.
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