Ex-Giuliani associate Parnas found guilty of violating U.S. campaign finance law

NEW YORK, Oct. 22 (Reuters) – Lev Parnas, a former employee of Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, was found guilty on Friday of violating U.S. campaign finance laws in the 2018 election.

Parnas, an American businessman born in Ukraine, and his former employee Igor Fruman were accused of soliciting Russian businessman Andrey Muraviev for donations for candidates in states where the group was seeking licenses to operate cannabis businesses in 2018.

Parnas also hid that he and Fruman, who pleaded guilty in September, were the true source of a donation to a group that backed then-Republican President Trump, prosecutors said. Giuliani’s attorney said the Parnas case was separate from an investigation into whether lobbying laws were violated in Trump’s representation.

Giuliani, a US attorney in the 1980s before he was elected Mayor of New York in 1994, has not been charged with any crime and denies wrongdoing.

Parnas was found guilty of federal electoral law violations on all six cases, including illegally assisting a foreigner in a U.S. election campaign, making donations on behalf of others, and lying to the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC).

Andrey Kukushkin, a Muraviev California resident who was tried with Parnas, was found guilty Friday of two campaign finance violations. Kukushkin is also from Ukraine.

The trial in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan attracted attention because Parnas and Belarus-born U.S. citizen Fruman Giuliani, who was Trump’s personal attorney during his tenure, helped investigate Democrat Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign. Biden won the election and denied Trump a second term.

Parnas, dressed in a blue suit, stared straight at the jury as the verdict was read. Kukushkin, wearing a gray sweater, shook his head after being found guilty on the second count.

“I’ve never hid from anyone,” said Parnas as he left the court wearing a black “Combat COVID” mask. “I always stood up and tried to tell the truth.”

His lawyer, Joseph Bondy, said they would petition for the sentence to be overturned “in the interests of justice.”

Lev Parnas, Ukrainian-American businessman and former Giuliani employee, goes to the United States Court in Manhattan on October 18, 2021 in New York City, New York, United States. REUTERS / Mike Segar

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“It is obviously a very difficult time for Mr Parnas and his wife and children,” said Bondy.

US District Judge J. Paul Oetken denied a prosecutor’s motion to arrest Parnas and Kukushkin. “The defendants have sufficiently demonstrated that there is no risk of fleeing,” said Oetken after the jury was ruled out.

Oetken set February 16 as the sentencing date for Kukuschkin. He has not set a date for the sentencing of Parnas, who is facing yet another possible trial on separate fraud allegations.

‘GOOD ABOVE HIS HEAD’

The case provided an insight into the inner workings of political fundraising in the United States.

“You saw Muraviev’s wires,” US Deputy Prosecutor Hagan Scotten told the jury during Thursday’s closing speeches. “You saw this money come out on the other side and find its way into the American elections, where the defendants thought they had bought influence to run their business.”

Parnas defenders countered that Muraviev’s money was used for business investments rather than campaign contributions and that the donation to the pro-Trump group came from a company Parnas founded and was not breaking any law.

In his closing statement, Parnas’ attorney Bondy characterized his client as a passionate advocate of marijuana legalization who was “way over his head”. He argued that Muraviev’s money funded the business, not campaign funds.

The deliberations in the process began on Friday morning and lasted about five hours.

Fruman, who lives in Florida, pleaded guilty to being asked to make campaign contributions by a foreigner. His sentencing is scheduled for January 21st.

Parnas and Kukushkin faced two charges of conspiracy to make donations from a foreign citizen and the making of donations. Parnas had also been charged on four other charges, including false statements to the federal election commission.

Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Edited by Franklin Paul, Grant McCool and Jonathan Oatis

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