- Title: Giuliani associates charged with funneling foreign cash to pro-Trump group
- Date: 10th October 2019
- Summary: ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 10, 2019) (REUTERS) ATTORNEY KEVIN DOWNING LEAVING COURT HOUSE DOWNING WALKING INTO HOTEL WIDE SHOT OF COURT HOUSE IN ALEXANDRIA DOWNING LEAVING HOTEL DOWNING WALKING INTO COURT HOUSE
- Embargoed: 24th October 2019 21:20
- Keywords: Trump Giuliani Giuliani associates U.S. campaign finances charges Lev Parnas Igor Fruman Kevin Downing
- Location: ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA002B0IO75Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Two foreign-born Florida businessmen who have helped President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani investigate political rival Joe Biden were arrested in a scheme to illegally funnel Russian money to a pro-Trump election committee and other U.S. political candidates, prosecutors said on Thursday (October 10).
The arrest of Ukraine-born Lev Parnas and Belarus-born Igor Fruman at an airport outside Washington carrying one-way tickets to Vienna was the latest dramatic development in a political saga that threatens Trump's presidency.
Prosecutors said Parnas and Fruman conspired to unlawfully contribute foreign money including at least $1 million from an unidentified Russian businessman to candidates for federal and state offices to buy influence. The two men in May 2018 donated $325,000 to a pro-Trump political action committee called America First Action, and the donation was falsely reported as coming from a purported natural gas company, according to the indictment.
A fast-moving Democratic-led House of Representatives impeachment inquiry is centered on the Republican president's request in a July phone call for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Biden, the former vice president and a top contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Giuliani has said Parnas and Fruman helped his efforts in Ukraine to investigate Biden and Biden's son Hunter. The younger Biden had served as a director of a Ukrainian energy company.
The two men were each charged by federal prosecutors in New York with two counts of conspiracy, one count of false statements and one of falsification of business records. U.S. law prohibits foreign donations in American elections.
Both men were expected to figure in the House impeachment drive and had been asked to produce documents and give testimony. Parnas had been scheduled to take part in a deposition with House lawmakers on Thursday, with Fruman scheduled on Friday. Dowd had called the lawmakers' demands "unreasonable." House Democrats on Thursday issued subpoenas for the men to hand over the documents and testify at a later date.
According to the indictment, Parnas also sought the help of a U.S. congressman - identified by a person familiar with the matter as Republican Pete Sessions - to get the Trump administration to remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Trump eventually did remove Yovanovitch and called her "bad news" in his July 25 call with Zelenskiy.
Giuliani told Reuters last week he had provided information to both Trump and the State Department about Yovanovitch, who he suggested was biased against Trump. Yovanovitch is scheduled to give testimony in the House impeachment inquiry.
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