FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 30, 2019

Contact: Bryan Dewan, bdewan@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), announced his intention to refer Blackwater founder Erik Prince to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for a criminal investigation into whether Prince provided false testimony to HPSCI regarding his meeting with Russian fund manager Kirill Dmitriev.

Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a nonprofit watchdog group focused on public accountability, previously called on HPSCI to refer Prince for criminal investigation on March 8, 2018, after press reports directly contradicted Prince’s testimony regarding his meeting with Dmitriev in the Seychelles in January 2017.

Click here to read CfA’s March 2018 complaint.

Based on information contained in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report, it appears Prince misled congressional investigators during his November 2017 testimony. Chairman Schiff told the Washington Post today, “In very material ways I think the evidence strongly suggests that [Erik Prince] willingly misled our committee and the Justice Department needs to consider whether there’s a prosecutable case.”

In response to Rep. Schiff’s announcement, CfA Executive Director Daniel E. Stevens issued the following statement:

CfA applauds Chairman Schiff’s decision to refer Erik Prince to the Department of Justice for a criminal investigation. A functioning democracy depends on accurate, truthful testimony, and efforts to deliberately mislead Congress undermine the rule of law and the democratic process. Prince must be held accountable if he lied to Congress.

18 U.S.C. § 1001 makes it a federal crime, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, to make a materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation in response to government investigations, including those of congressional committees.

Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.