Rejecting defense efforts to block evidence in an upcoming trial, Special Counsel John Durham says private attorney Michael Sussmann was part of a “joint venture” that aimed to help Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign by smearing rival Donald Trump with Russia dirt.

Durham said in court filings submitted Saturday and made public Monday that the effort to tar Trump with the now-discredited allegations of a secret Kremlin computer channel at Alfa Bank began in June 2016 was “crystalized” two months later and involved tech executives, researchers and one of Sussmann’s law partners.

“The parties agreed to conduct work in the hope that it would benefit the Clinton Campaign, namely, gathering and disseminating purportedly derogatory data regarding Trump and his associates’ internet activities,” Durham wrote.

Sussmann is charged with lying to the FBI, falsely claiming he wasn’t working for a client when he delivered the Alfa Bank allegations to the bureau’s chief counsel in September 2016. In fact, Durham alleges in the indictment, Sussmann was working for the campaign and a tech executive.