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‘Putin’s Chef’ Business Asks U.S. Court to Toss Trolling Case

'Putin's Chef' Business Asks U.S. Court to Toss Trolling Case

(Bloomberg) -- Concord Management and Consulting LLC, the Russian business run by a man often referred to as "Putin’s Chef" for his close ties to the the nation’s leader, asked a U.S. judge to throw out charges accusing it of backing a wide-ranging attempt to influence the American presidential election in 2016.

Defense lawyers for Yevgeny Prigozhin’s company contend the indictment obtained by Special Counsel Robert Mueller alleges a crime of conspiracy that doesn’t exist. The attorneys also said the prosecutors’ reading of the underlying law was "unconstitutionally vague."

A Washington grand jury indicted Concord, two other businesses and 13 people including Prigozhin in February for engaging in a yearslong multimillion-dollar conspiracy to undermine Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, while backing those of intra-party rival Bernie Sanders and President Donald Trump via social media, fake rallies and other means.

Concord Management, the only defendant to answer the charges, had its lawyers enter a not guilty plea in May.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider

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