Russia and Ukraine Skadden has a history of representing clients with ties to the
Vladimir Putin regime in Russia, such as
Alfa Bank,
Roman Abramovich, and to
Viktor F. Yanukovych's pro-Russian regime in Ukraine. In 2020, the firm paid a $4.6 million settlement for misleading U.S. authorities regarding its lobbying on behalf of a Russia-aligned Ukrainian government. In 2012, Skadden took as a client
Viktor F. Yanukovych, who was a pro-Russian
president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014.
Paul Manafort helped arrange for the hiring of Skadden. One of company's actions on Yanukovych's behalf was to produce a report justifying Yanukovych's imprisonment of former prime minister
Yulia V. Tymoshenko (who was pro-European) and denying that the action had been a political prosecution, although many Western countries characterized it as such. Later that year, a team of American lawyers commissioned by the government of Ukraine concluded that Tymoshenko's trial had not been fair and her rights had been violated. After Yanukovych lost power in
Euromaidan and fled to Russia, Skadden's work on his behalf led to several federal investigations. One Skadden attorney,
Alex van der Zwaan, was convicted of lying to the FBI about his work on Yanukovych's behalf and served 30 days in jail. In 2019, Skadden lawyer
Gregory B. Craig was indicted on charges of lying to federal prosecutors about the work he did at Skadden on behalf of the Yanukovych, but was acquitted in a jury trial. Tymoshenko made plans to sue Skadden, and in May 2020 it was revealed that Skadden had paid at least $11 million to settle the case before a lawsuit could be filed. Skadden, along with Mercury Public Affairs and the
Podesta Group, was investigated by the
U.S. attorney's office for the
Southern District of New York (SDNY) for possible
lobbying violations regarding former
Trump campaign chairman
Paul Manafort. In 2019, Skadden agreed to pay a $4.6 million settlement to the
Department of Justice over the firm's failure to register as a foreign agent under the
Foreign Agent Registrations Act. Skadden has been involved in representing Russian groups in corporate deals worth around $90 billion. Skadden has represented Alfa Bank, a Russian bank closely associated with Russian oligarchs and the Vladimir Putin regime. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and amid heavy sanctions against Alfa Bank, Skadden said it was "in the process of ending our representations of Alfa Bank." ==Notable relationships with the firm==