FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2017, file photo, Rick Gates, center, departs federal court in Washington. Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is illustrating an age-old truism: It pays to cooperate with the government. The few people who so have cooperated with the special counsel’s office have enjoyed perks including the prospect of reduced prison sentences. Gates, for weeks on home confinement with electronic monitoring, gets rapid approval for a family vacation and shaves down his potential prison time. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

WASHINGTON - George Papadopoulos, taken by surprise by FBI agents at an airport last summer, now tweets smiling beach selfies with a hashtag for the Greek resort island of Mykonos.

Rick Gates, for weeks on home confinement, gets rapid approval for a family vacation and shaves down his potential prison time.

Michael Flynn, once targeted in a grand jury investigation, travels cross-country to campaign for a California congressional candidate and books a New York speaking event.

It pays to co-operate with the government.

That's true in any criminal investigation. It's especially notable in a case as high profile as special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry, where deals for co-operators have raised speculation about incriminating information they're providing.

The perks of co-operation include freer travel, lenient punishment prospects and even public comments by defendants that might have been unthinkable months ago.

Compare that with the experiences of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who has refused to co-operate and faces decades in prison. And it sends the message that others could receive favourable treatment if they agree to work with investigators.

"There's no question that it's in the government's interest to take what steps they can to show that co-operating is in the interest of the defendant," said Daniel Petalas, a former federal prosecutor. "A basic principle of plea bargaining is that you have to make it worth it to the defendant to admit liability in a criminal matter."

The latest example came Tuesday when Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan was sentenced to 30 days in prison for lying to the FBI. Though his deal didn't explicitly require co-operation, the charge he pleaded guilty to carries a maximum five-year sentence and it's almost certain that he risked a longer punishment if convicted at trial. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said some incarceration was necessary to deter others from lying to investigators.

Defendants who admit guilt are stained with criminal convictions, may forfeit liberties including the right to vote and put their jobs and reputation at risk. And they can still wind up with tough sentences.

Given that uncertainty and stress, it's common for prosecutors looking to induce co-operation to make concessions, such as dismissing charges or agreeing to recommend a lighter sentence, especially for someone they think can help them build a case against a higher-value target.

"There is a societal interest, frankly, in having people co-operate with prosecutors because often the government only can know what's happened based on documentary evidence and witnesses that it speaks with," said Sharon McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor in New York. "But insiders who can give insight into conversations and planning and things like that are crucial to being able to make cases."

There's nothing new about cutting deals, including for violent mobsters, but the tactics have drawn renewed scrutiny especially in conservative legal circles.

Former Manhattan federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote last month in the National Review that Mueller was shirking Justice Department protocols by offering Gates, Manafort's co-defendant and a onetime Trump campaign aide, a "penny-ante plea" instead of requiring him to plead to the most serious charges he faced.

Gates was initially charged in October in a 12-count indictment and faced well over a decade in prison. He pleaded guilty in February to just two charges. Under sentencing guidelines, he now faces fewer than six years or less, depending on the extent of his co-operation.

He spent weeks on home confinement as a potential flight risk, repeatedly requesting, and generally receiving, permission to attend children's sporting games and holiday events in the region.

The home confinement condition was lifted in January. Days after his plea, he filed a motion with the government's blessing asking to be able to ditch his GPS monitoring, but the judge said she was not ready to grant the motion at that time. He did, however, receive approval for a family trip to Boston for spring break, though that plan was aborted after he said threatening comments were posted online.

Papadopoulos's carefree tweets, including smiling snapshots of his wife on his lap and beside him at the beach, are a far cry from the frowning mug shot taken after his arrest at Dulles International Airport last summer.

Accused of lying to the FBI and facing the possibility of a lengthy sentence, he pleaded guilty in a secret court hearing and agreed to co-operate. Since then, he's resurfaced with a Twitter profile of more than 7,400 followers.

Mueller's team includes lawyers with deep experience in organized crime and financial fraud cases, which frequently require flipping witnesses and sometimes involve aggressive manoeuvring.

Andrew Weissmann, one of the Gates prosecutors, indicted the wife of Enron's chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow, in 2003. The move was interpreted by some as a way to encourage Fastow himself to plead guilty and co-operate, which he ultimately did by testifying against high-level colleagues.

Still, prosecutors understand that juries may look askance at sweetheart plea deals, especially with those who've been publicly demonized, and that defence lawyers may subject co-operators to bruising cross-examinations.

"Prosecutors are going to be cognizant that there are always going to be credibility issues with co-operators," said former prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg, "but these are very experienced prosecutors and they're making a decision that, on balance, they're getting something in return."

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This story has been corrected to say that judge didn't lift GPS monitoring for Gates.

News from © The Associated Press, 2018