Judge sentences Ukraine lobbyist W. Samuel Patten to probation

April 12 (UPI) -- A federal judge gave lobbyist and consultant W. Samuel Patten, a former associate of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, probation Friday in a case that originated with special counsel Robert Mueller.

Patten, who helped a Ukrainian oligarch illegally buy tickets to President Donald Trump's inauguration, was sentenced to three years of probation, 500 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine by Washington, D.C., District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson. It's the most lenient sentence yet for any case related to Mueller's Russia investigation.

The sentence came eight months after he pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires disclosure of lobbying in the United States for foreign governments. Patten pleaded guilty to lobbying U.S. lawmakers on behalf of Ukraine's pro-Russia Opposition Bloc political party without informing the Justice Department. Prosecutors said Patten also tried to introduce a Russian business partner to U.S. lawmakers. The partner was identified in court as a "prominent Ukrainian oligarch."

Patten was a business partner of Konstatin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian citizen and a Manafort aide who U.S. authorities say has ties to Russian intelligence services. Patten has cooperated with Mueller's investigation and other federal cases. For that help, prosecutors urged leniency and said Patten was willing to testify against Manafort over related charges.

"I fully recognize the seriousness of my conduct and the crimes that I committed," Patten, who faced five years in prison, told the court Friday. "I behaved as though the law didn't apply to me and that was wrong."

"None of [the offenses] were minor and all of them were absolutely intentional," Jackson answered. "This isn't a mere technicality and it wasn't an oversight. You hid and misrepresented the true nature of the work on behalf of the Ukrainian party. I'm probably most troubled by that because it goes beyond the failure to register."