Ukrainian businessman granted bail in case involving funneling cash to pro-Trump group

Record ID: 1436397

  • Title: Ukrainian businessman granted bail in case involving funneling cash to pro-Trump group
  • Date: 12th October 2019
  • Summary: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 11, 2019) (REUTERS / VICKI BEHRINGER - MUST COURTESY VICKI BEHRINGER) COURT SKETCH OF DEFENDANT ANDREY KUKUSHKIN (CENTER WITH BROWN SHIRT) APPEARING BEFORE U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY (RIGHT) WITH ATTORNEY ALAN DRESSLER (LEFT OF KUKUSHKIN) AND ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY CLAUDIA QUIROZ (FAR LEFT) HOLDING PASSPORT COURT SKETCH OF QUIROZ, DRESSLER AND KUKUSHKIN COURT SKETCH OF KUKUSHKIN COURT SKETCH OF COURT SESSION WITH MEMBERS OF KUKUSHKIN'S FAMILY (FAR LEFT) AND AN UNIDENTIFIED PERSON BETWEEN THE JUDGE AND KUKUSHKIN
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2019 05:55
  • Keywords: Andrey Kukushkin Rudy Giuliani Ukraine Joe Biden Lev Parnas Trump
  • Location: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B0SJTJB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A man arrested as part of the case involving the funneling of foreign money to U.S. political candidates was granted bail in a San Francisco federal court on Friday (October 11, 2019).
    Andrey Kukushkin was arrested on Thursday in the case involving Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two foreign-born Florida businessmen who have helped President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani investigate political rival Joe Biden.
    U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ordered Kukushkin release on $1 million dollars bail, but not before surrendering his Ukrainian and U.S. passports.
    Corley also ordered that Kukushkin will be subject to home confinement and electronic monitoring.
    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.
    David Correia, a U.S. businessman, was also arrested for indictment alongside Kukushkin, a Ukrainian-born U.S. businessman who was a vice president of a Russian hedge fund before becoming involved in several marijuana-related businesses in California.
    Prosecutors said Parnas and Fruman conspired to contribute foreign money including at least $1 million from an unidentified Russian businessman to candidates for federal and state offices to buy influence.
    Prosecutors separately said they donated $325,000 to a pro-Trump political action committee called America First Action in May 2018, and the money was falsely reported as coming from a purported natural gas company set up to conceal its true source, 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.
    (Production: Vicki Behringer, Soren Larson and Cath Turner)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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