Skadden law firm, linked to Manafort, settles U.S. foreign agent violations

The Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Llp law firm has settled with the U.S. Justice Department over violating the country's foreign agents law when it worked on behalf of Ukraine on a public relations campaign in 2012, agreeing to pay more than $4.6 million, the department said on Thursday.

The Justice Department said Ukraine's Ministry of Justice hired Skadden with assistance from President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, to write a report on the trial of its country's former prime minister. After meeting with Ukraine's public relations firm and Manafort in 2012, a lead partner at the firm began contacting a journalist to promote the report, the department said. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert;e diting by Jonathan Oatis)