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US Court Dismisses Russiagate Charges Against Rick Gates

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed several charges against former Trump campaign associate Rick Gates in the ongoing Russia investigation, according to a court filing on Tuesday.
Sputnik

"The court, having considered the government’s motion … to dismiss without prejudice the charges in Counts 5 through 10 and 15 through 32 of the Superseding Indictment against defendant Richard W. Gates III, it is hereby ordered that the government’s motion is granted; and it is further ordered that the charges in Counts 5 through 10 and 15 through 32 of the Superseding Indictment are dismissed without prejudice as to defendant Gates," the filing said.

Court documents show that the dismissed charges include several counts of subscribing to false US individual income tax return; assisting in preparation of false US individual income; failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts; bank fraud and bank fraud conspiracy.

The charges were dismissed "without prejudice," meaning they can be reinstated later in the trial.

Former Trump Adviser Gates Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy, Making False Statements
Rick Gates is a former lobbyist and business partner to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. In October, the Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced that Manafort and Gates were indicted on 12 counts, including for failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 for their work for the Ukrainian government.

Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller issued additional charges against Gates and Manafort on Thursday, including a conspiracy to launder more than $30 million. Mueller is leading an investigation into allegations of purported collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 US presidential election.

US President Donald Trump and Russia have repeatedly denied all of the allegations. Moreover, Moscow has rejected on numerous occasions the accusations of alleged meddling in the US political process, saying such acts go counter to the principles and conduct of Russian foreign policy.

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