Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukrainian businessman, was indicted with Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, on federal charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice regarding his lobbying work.
Manafort was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after being convicted of a series of crimes related to the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian meddling into the 2016 Presidential Election.
Trump pardoned Manafort in December 2020.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/23/949820820/trump-pardons-roger-stone-paul-manafort-and-charles-kushner
Trump did not pardon Kilimnik because he was never charged.
He is believed to be in Russia.
(Kilimnik, not Trump)
The FBI has offered a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to his arrest.
The Senate Intelligence Committee reported that Manafort “worked with Kilimnik starting in 2016 on narratives that sought to undermine evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.”
The FBI reported that Kilimnik, who has a Russian citizenship, was a liaison between Trump officials and Ukrainian and Russian politicians and businessmen. His 2018 indictment alleged that Kilimnik “knowingly and intentionally attempted to corruptly persuade another person, with intent to influence, delay, and prevent testimony in an official proceeding.”
The Mueller report said that Kilimnik was believed to “have ties to Russian intelligence.” In addition, the report said that Kilimnik received Trump campaign information from Manafort, but did not say what he did with it after receiving it.
NBC News and other news media outlets reported in April 2021 that the U.S. intelligence community had developed new information about Kilimnik, who was identified as a Russian spy, that led them to believe that Manafort gave internal Trump campaign polling and strategy information to Russian intelligence services.
The U.S. Treasury said for the first time that Kilimnik admitted during questioning that he passed along data to Russian intelligence officers. This information was not included in the Mueller report.
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0126
The London-based Independent newspaper reported in August 2022 that Manafort “admittedsharing confidential campaign polling data with a suspected Russian intelligence officer at the same time Moscow was interfering in the 2016 election on Mr. Trump’s behalf.”
He said he shared information Kilimnik “in hopes of financial gain for himself, not to aid Russia’s efforts to help Mr Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.”
