A grand jury reportedly brought charges in the Uranium One investigation against a man who investigators say tried to bribe a Russian official at the country’s state-run nuclear energy corporation.
Mark Lambert, former head of a Maryland-based transportation company, was indicted last Thursday on 11 counts of money laundering and wire fraud, according to the New York Post.
{mosads}
The Uranium One investigation centers on the Obama administration’s clearing of a business deal that allowed a Russian nuclear firm to buy a Canadian uranium mining company with assets in the U.S.
In the indictment, prosecutors accuse Lambert of hiding the payments to the Russian official by using code words such as “lucky figures,” “lucky numbers” and “cake.” The official Lambert was accused of bribing works at a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corp.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Congress in 2010 that no uranium at either facility purchased by the Russian company could be exported. Still, some of the uranium mined after the deal made it as far away as Europe, The Hill reported in November.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said at the time that it was “disturbing” to see that some of the yellowcake uranium had made its way overseas despite promises from the U.S. government to the contrary.
“The more that surfaces about this deal, the more questions it raises,” Grassley said in a statement.
“It now appears that despite pledges to the contrary, U.S. uranium made its way overseas as a part of the Uranium One deal,” Grassley said in the statement. “What’s more disturbing, those transactions were apparently made possible by various Obama Administration agencies while the Democrat-controlled Congress turned a blind eye.”