Russian lawyer already a focus of Mueller probe now charged in separate case

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The Russian lawyer who met in 2016 with Donald Trump Jr. in Trump Tower has been charged with obstructing justice in a separate money-laundering investigation.

Natalia Vaselnitskaya has been charged with making a "misleading declaration" to the court as she represented Prevezon Holdings in a civil case. The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan accuses Prevezon of using a Russian criminal organization to run an elaborate tax refund scheme that stole the identities of companies. They filed fake lawsuits to incur fake losses for refund purposes, authorities said.

They bilked $230 million in tax refunds, prosecutors said, and filtered the money through Prevezon, who in turn invested the money in high-end commercial real estate in Manhattan.

Vaselnitskaya is under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller for the clandestine meeting with Trump Jr. where she promised dirt on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in June 2016.