UPDATE 1-U.S. House panel seeks criminal referral for Trump backer Prince

The U.S. House intelligence panel on Tuesday will send a criminal referral to the Department of Justice for Trump backer Erik Prince, the committee's chairman said, adding there was strong evidence he lied to U.S. lawmakers probing Russia.

Democrat Adam Schiff told a Washington Post event there was evidence that Prince, who founded the now defunct Blackwater security firm and is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, had willingly misled the committee. "I believe there was very strong evidence that he willingly misled the committee, made false statements to the committee," Schiff said, citing Prince's January 2017 meeting with a Russian banker in the Seychelles. "The evidence is so weighty that the Justice Department needs to consider this."

He declined to say whether the panel also planned to submit referrals for U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner and Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. At issue are discrepancies between Prince's comments to Congress versus what he told U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who released his report earlier this month.

The report's details over Prince's meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, who reports directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, differ from testimony Prince gave to the intelligence panel in November 2017. Perjury before Congress is a crime that can carry a punishment of up to five years in prison and a fine.

Marc Cohen, a spokesman for Prince, could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by Susan Heavey Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)