A federal judge in Virginia sentenced George Nader, a key witness in the special counsel’s investigation, to 10 years in prison on Friday on child sex crime charges.
Nader, 61, pleaded guilty on Jan. 13 to trafficking a 14-year-old boy from the Czech Republic for sex in 2000.
He faced numerous other charges for other sex crimes, as well as for helping a business associate funnel illegal campaign contributions to Democrats and the Clinton campaign in order to advance their political and business interests.
Nader’s sex crimes were discovered in connection with the special counsel’s probe. The Lebanese-American businessman served as a key witness in the investigation, providing statements to prosecutors about his interactions with Trump campaign advisers, and with the Trump transition officials.
Nader, a longtime adviser to Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, met with Trump officials Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. Prosecutors were particularly interested in a January 2017 meeting that Nader attended in the Seychelles between Erik Prince, an informal Trump adviser and the head of a Russian investment fund.
Robert Mueller arrives to make a statement about the Russia investigation on May 29, 2019 at the Justice Department. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Nader’s assistance to the special counsel did not lead to any charges against Trump associates.
Investigators discovered sexually explicit images on Nader’s device after stopping him for questioning in January 2018 in connection with the special counsel’s probe.
Prosecutors in Virginia indicted Nader on April 19, 2018, on child pornography charges. Prosecutors alleged that Nader’s phone contained more than a dozen images of minors being sexually abused. He was arrested on June 3, 2019, after returning to the United States from overseas, and indicted on additional child sex trafficking charges on July 19, 2019. (RELATED: Alleged Pedophile And Mueller Witness Indicted On Charges Of Funneling Millions To Clinton Campaign)
Prosecutors said in that indictment that Nader had a “thirty-year history of using his international influence and wealth to obtain minor boys for sex and an unrelenting interest in images of minor boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
They said that Nader traveled “frequently” to Europe in the 1990s and 2000s, “where he engaged the services of a pimp who introduced him to numerous vulnerable minor boys whom Defendant paid for sex.”
Prosecutors cited numerous text messages that Nader exchanged with alleged co-conspirators about trafficking underage boys for sex.
Nader was indicted in the United States in 1985 and 1990 on child porn possession charges. He also served one year in prison in the Czech Republic in 2003 for molesting underage boys.
Despite that sordid past, Nader was able to thrive as a political consultant and adviser to foreign leaders in the Middle East.
A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Nader and an associate, Lebanese-American businessman Andy Khawaja, on Nov. 7, 2019, on charges that they made $3.5 million in illegal contributions to political committees linked to Hillary Clinton.
The pair held fundraisers for Clinton, and maintained contact with Bill Clinton and Clinton campaign officials, an indictment in the case alleged. The indictment does not accuse anyone on the campaign of wrongdoing.
Nader’s sentence was the minimum he could receive given his crimes.
Nader’s victim provided a statement that was read aloud during Friday’s sentencing hearing, according to Politico.
“It is not right to abuse a child, practically abduct him and destroy him for life,” the victim said.
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