George Nader, a Lebanese businessman who has advised multiple presidential administrations and was a key witness in the Mueller probe, pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of having sex with a child and possession of child pornography.
Federal authorities originally investigated Nader as part of the Mueller probe after learning that he orchestrated a meeting between a Russian official with ties to Vladimir Putin and Trump associate Erik Prince. Investigators then discovered child pornography on Nader’s phone, and in exchange for his cooperation agreed to recommend a reduced sentence of 10 years for his sex crime charges, although he may face up to 30 years in prison.
Nader admitted Monday in federal court in Virginia to possession of child pornography and to bringing a 14-year-old Czech boy to the United States for sex in 2000. Nader has a raft of past convictions for child sex crimes, including in 1991 in the same federal court for transporting child pornography and in the Czech Republic in 2003 for sex with minors.
According to his attorneys, Nader was hired as a contractor for the Defense Department and as a Middle East adviser for the Bush administration in the early 2000s, shortly after he allegedly took a child into the U.S. for sex.
Nader had been charged in December as a player in a massive campaign-finance scheme in which the businessman and associates attempted to conceal large donations to the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.