and changed hands so many times that the statute of limitations for the initial matter for which he was investigated -- failure to register as a foreign agent -- has expired.

This story is based on information from six people familiar with the government's investigation, which is now in the hands of the Justice Department's national security division and the US Attorney's office for the District of Columbia.

A spokesman for the national security division declined to comment. A representative for the US Attorney's office for the District of Columbia did not respond to a request for comment.

Craig's attorneys, William Taylor and William Murphy, said: "If the National Security Division stubbornly insists on prosecuting Mr. Craig, any such charges would be a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion."

Craig initially came intothe crosshairs of federal prosecutors in mid-2017, during the investigation by Mueller. Craig and his then-firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, had performed work beginning in 2012 for Ukraine's Ministry of Justice. It was a client relationship the Justice Department has said was forged with the assistance of Paul Manafort, who later became President Donald Trump's campaign chairman.

The special counsel team was intrigued by the notion of using a once-obscure law, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, to pursue cases of individuals acting as unregistered foreign agents, a charge the special counsel subsequently brought against Manafort and his business partner, Rick Gates, both of whom have since admitted to failing to register as foreign agents for their work for Ukraine. Craig and Skadden, during the